Twisted
by Sithicus
Summary: Untold Centuries Ago the Chaos Bringer was defeated and cast out in the form of a powerful Talisman whose power was available only to a select few, now the Drow of Menzoberranzan have discovered said Talisman and have used it to blot out the Sun. AU FR
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Notes:** This story is being posted in two sections becuse I can not decide which place it is best suited. To begin with I shall explain the reasons behind this side-quest as it were; if you are new to my Fanfics then allow me to summarize, the primary Protagonist is Alain Desrochers of Earth Prime and he was sent into the Omniverse by God to be trained in the use of his Gift an inner aura/ability that allows him to tangle with Demonic Beings. This story is set during Xena Warrior Princess: Of Gods and Women, Part Two and details a glaringly obvious continuity glitch I made during the writing of said story; having forgotten almost entirely that Xena and Gabrielle went to Hercules' aid during the Hind Trilogy as it is sometimes called.  
Instead of re-writing the story in question I chose to expand further on a cruical element of those early tales; the splintering of Alain into two souls within one body, though the Main Characters of the stories are never told the truth as you will see the soul that became Alumni God of Chaos in the third tale in truth was not so innocent as one might claim. I have however taken the convienent way out at the end of this as you will discover and gone the cliched route of They Forgot All About it by the end. Still I wanted my readers to gain the full picture and I enjoyed expanding further not only on the Mythos of my Primary Character, but his Other Self. Perhaps I am confusing everyone so I shall leave you now to read this tale and hopefully I shall recieve some thrilling or perhaps scathing reviews.

**Disclaimer: The Forgotten Realms, Cormyr, Vangerdahast, the Drow, Elminster and any others mentioned belong to Wizards of the Coast Inc. Xena, Gabrielle and Others belong to someone who is not me; I have borrowed them all to confuse and enthrall the masses in My Ultimate Masterpiece Chrysalis, please see my Profile for a complete list of all Fanfics currently planned and posted for the most part on Alain Albert-Joseph Desrochers Alias Alumni, The Drow Elves Sheera, Erumrae and Imreenice all belong to me and are Fan Made Characters; Tarantulas, Unicron, Cybertron, The Dark Matrix, Decepticons and Autobots all blong to Hasbro Inc. Ironically I do believe they also own Wizards of the Coast, so consider this perhaps the first time you'll ever see The Transformers Crossover into The Forgotten Realms. LOL I have Rated this M for implied Sexual Content and Definately Very Real Present Sexual Content though I have tried my best to be as Non-Committal and Indescriptive as possible; if there is a problem with those scenes I will attempt to modify them, but for now since unfortunately they offer some rather clear cut character development scenes they must stay and the rating remain M. Ok; now that that's over I hope you'll all enjoy a brief look back into the past of the Chrysalis Saga, and if you are interested in learning more about Alumni/Alain then feel free to read my other works featuring said character.**

**PS: Keep your eyes peeled for a certain Guest Appearance from one of my all time Favorite TSR/Wizards of the Coast Characters.**

* * *

Tarantulas had long studied the history of his enemy; he had been monitoring the human for a long time, but something always seemed to elude him. Ramhorn, Seaclamp and even Cicadacon chose not to worry themselves about it, but Tarantulas was obsessed; as though a part of his spark was attuned to the human.  
Today he was observing the distant past once again; when the human traveled alongside the Warrior Princess and her companion the Battling Bard, without warning a change came over the vision and Tarantulas found himself staring at himself.

"What treachery is this?" He wondered as the Tarantulas in the vision blasted the young man with some kind of neutralizing beam; before he could delve deeper the vision turned dark, impossible to see and Unicrons' voice drifted down from the nether.

"This is not for your optics." His master informed.

"But; Lord Unicron…" The spider attempted to protest.

"Silence arachnid; return to your training, soon you will be sent to Earth." Unicron ordered in a tone that would brook no argument; Tarantulas bowed his head acknowledging the order with a show of respect.

"As you wish Lord Unicron." He returned; Tarantulas was quick to leave and Unicrons' essence resumed watching the vision with a dark inner smile.

"My pawn shall soon retrieve the Dark Matrix for you." He stated to an unseen observer. "Soon you will be ready to journey to Cybertron One Thousand Three Hundred." He added in a pleased tone; the unseen observers' optics lit up in a smile and a silent laugh seemed to float across the barriers of reality, just as it happened before and just as it would happen again Alumni as he was called had been plucked from Xena's world and sent on a truly… Twisted mission.

_

* * *

Alumni had been riding Widowmaker striving to catch up with Xena; when they'd heard about Hercules giving up his Demi-Godhood to marry the Hind they knew somehow that they'd be needed. Xena told Alumni to take a different route; one that was free of warlords, he hadn't wanted to split up, but he seriously hadn't felt like arguing the matter. __Now he wished he had; having to fight giant spiders wasn't what he'd been expecting, truth be told he was terrified of the thing a primal fear he had no idea of its' origin._

"_Alumni; you'd better survive this." He muttered to himself; without warning the spider actually burst into a cackle, Alumni was shocked, since when could spiders talk._

"_I'm afraid your trip has been cancelled." The spider informed. "Tarantulas, Terrorize!" He cried literally altering his shape into a strange armored creature; Alumni was stunned, something about this creature was hauntingly familiar. "Find the Dark Matrix and return it to me or else you will suffer." He ordered leveling a strange weapon on him; before Alumni could protest he was struck down by a mild shock, eyes rolling in the back of his head Alumni collapsed and the spider laughed darkly before moving to claim the fallen human._

* * *

Velasca groaned; pain was something she wasn't used to now that she had become a God, but the sensation wasn't new to her. Still she had no idea how she'd come to be here; wherever here was because the last thing she remembered she and that Callisto bitch had been trapped in a stream of molten hot magma, opening her eyes she was annoyed to find herself trapped on some kind of glowing spider webbing. Trying to use her Godly powers to free herself a throbbing pain burst behind her eyes; screaming in pain she thrashed on the web until she forced herself to stop using her powers, instantly the pain subsided.

"Who dares imprison Velasca, Goddess of Chaos!" She screamed; a twisted cackling exploded from the shadows and something moved, a golden yellow glow seemed to be staring at her, as though her captor had glowing eyes.

"Goddess of Chaos; heh, heh, heh, you are no master of chaos; you wasted your powers in acts of petty revenge and were bested by a mortal." Her captor mocked. "A true servant of chaos would have simply sent her followers to kill the Bard; you don't deserve that power, alas I can not undo what the food of the Gods has wrought." He proclaimed slyly cackling once more. "But I can force you to obey me; every time you wish to use your powers you will experience excruciating pain, unless you agree to follow my command." He revealed the glowing light flaring slightly revealing for a brief moment monstrously inhuman features.

"And why should I?" Velasca demanded; in response she felt a pain so great she believed she was dieing again.

"Hinds' blood isn't the only thing that can kill a God." Her captor replied simply as the pain subsided; Velasca's eyes were filled with defiant flames of rage, but she knew she had little choice in the matter.

"What is it you want of me?" She asked defeated; the unseen captor laughed insanely and finally stepped into the light revealing the image of a creature she'd never seen before in all her life, he had no mouth at least not one that looked human and eight spindly spider legs hung off of his upper arms folded inwardly touching the shell that was his back. His hands were clawed; adding to the alien appearance and he shined as though composed mostly of metal, perhaps one of Hephaestus's constructs then given new life for some unknown master.

"Why my dear I thought you'd never ask." He stated approaching the Goddess with a strange looking spider in one claw; Velasca shied away in true terror and she was a God, fear should not be an emotion she experienced anymore, but some primal response to this thing made her tremble with the hated emotion. And she screamed as the creature grabbed her with the other claw and forced the spider-thing down her throat, a scream that made all those who heard it pity the creature who had uttered it.

**Twisted**

Alumni felt the cold biting winds and snapped back into consciousness with a start; he was laying in the middle of a snow bank wearing an armor he hadn't seen or possessed before, it was a solid black in color with an oddly spider-like pattern covering it, or more accurately the webbing of a spider accompanied with the talismans of Lloth.  
Though he had no knowledge of that name or from whence it had came; as the young man stared at it something seemed to pass over him, the gentle caring and noble soul that had been born to this body vanished. Buried deep beneath the sub consciousness and in its' place the soul destined to splinter off on its' own life thread assumed control, with a gentle prodding from the mechanical spider construct forcibly ingested the flickering and newly formed spark of Cybertronian life knew instinctively his task and mission.

"The Dark Matrix." He stated a smirk playing across his lips despite the frigid air. "I must reclaim it for my Master." He whispered briefly clutching the hilt of his sword he took a step towards the road and froze as a woman's voice carried on the wind.

"What did that beast do to me?" The woman demanded; glancing to his left he discovered a familiar looking woman, she was wearing a fur covered bodice and cape with matching bottom and boots, it was completely white and made her almost vanish in the blowing snow.

"Velasca." Alumni called with a wary glance; the Goddess glanced up from her new sparsely covering wardrobe and glared darkly at the man she instantly recognized as being friends of the Bard, her sword came up and she took a step forward.

"Xena's pet." She hissed her eyes glowing in the dim light. "I shall enjoy killing you male." She snarled preparing to attack; he smiled knowingly, the tiny spider buried within the flesh somehow rendering him aware she wasn't a threat.

"Down." He commanded as though a master chastising a disobedient pet; Velasca immediately lowered to her knees in the snow in a show of supplication that filled the young man with strange urges, a fire however glowed in her eyes.

"How dare you command me; I am an Amazon and a Goddess." She growled; Alumni laughed and marched up to her armor creaking softly, he felt comfortable in this armor as if he belonged within, as if the flesh body he now possessed was simply a cocoon for the alien life form being created within.

"Tarantulas has made certain you will obey my every whim whore." He informed with sadistic glee as all of the inhibitions of the gentle soul that had once dominated this flesh form were shunted aside and replaced with raw primal desires, physical and otherwise. "The spider within you is telepathically linked to my own; you do know what telepathy means don't you?" He wondered snidely. "You can not harm me and have no choice, but to obey every command given; no matter your distaste or personal desires." He elaborated. "This place wherever it is, is a dangerous one and we can not be fighting against each other, the **Master** commands us to retrieve the Matrix." He finished pointedly; Velasca narrowed her eyes in suspicion, Alumni bade her to rise with a simple gesture and her body obeyed without conscious thought.

"How dare he enslave a former Amazon; I shall take great pleasure in killing you both when this task is finished." She proclaimed sheathing her blade; Alumni shook his head, even Goddesses obeyed the Master in the end and Velasca's ultimate fate relayed heavily on his whims.

"We have a long journey ahead of us Goddess; let us begin lest we freeze in this God forsaken land." He urged taking a step upon the path; Velasca intended to remind him that Gods could not die when she realized just how numb her less ideally covered body was getting, whatever that accursed thing had done to her she was no longer immune to the elements.

"Lead on Mortal worm." She inclined her head; Alumni chose not to return the insult and began to make his way down the long winding mountain pass, in the distance the lights of a small town could barely be made out, they could find shelter there no doubt in the Inn.

_

* * *

Widowmaker knew her master was gone, but the Mare knew of no way to find him; she feared that he was lost and the intelligent animal couldn't allow herself to pass on to a new possibly crueler master, so she chose to hide along the pathway, instinctively she knew that he would return though she knew not where the instinct came from. __And elsewhere on Mount Olympus the Gods under Zeus knew nothing of the young man's disappearance; just as they had not known he was being observed by the most powerful force for Chaos in the Omniverse proper, all they knew was that for whatever reason he was not present to aid his friends while Ares attempted to destroy Hercules using the Golden Hind and their love for one another as only Ares could._

* * *

The town's name was Elfilhelm or at least that's what the sign indicated; it truly was small, not even a stable at the Inn for weary travelers' horses, there was a smithy however and all the necessary accoutrements aside from the homes. When the two reluctant companions entered the Inn all eyes took note; a barbarian woman from the Icewind Dale region and a Spider Lord of Menzoberranzan by the looks of it, and out late too the Inn-Keeper wagered they were on some unknown and perilous quest.

"Evenin' genteels; may I offer a late meal for such noble guests as yourselves?" Old Reb asked with a crooked toothed smile; the Spider Lord shook his head depositing a small percentage of melting snow on the counter.

"A room will do good fellow." He stated reaching into a fold of the ebony cloak he wore producing a small satchel of gold; Reb smiled and greedily plucked the bag from the mans' hand before disappearing behind the counter for a key.

"If you and your… Concubine will follow me m'lord." He requested; the barbarian woman bristled and looked almost ready to skewer Reb on her sword.

"Velasca." The lord cautioned in a soft tone; the woman's cold ire turned to him, but she said nothing and seemingly sullenly followed after him. Reb led them up three flights of stairs to the best rooms; in truth most of his rooms had fallen into disrepair since the Spider Lords took over the Realms, only five were even suitable enough to stave off the cold winters' chill.

"Here you go M'Lord." Reb returned smiling winningly at the young man; too young almost even to be a Spider Lord and suddenly Reb realized he was a human not of Drowish descent, but he knew better then to even think of betraying one of their kind to anyone for they had a habit of making overly inquisitive sorts vanish without so much as a trace. "As you can see the fireplace is already roaring; shall I send up a meal for 'Fast?" The old man asked; the younger man shook his head.

"We shall dine downstairs." He informed; the woman never once spoke, but Reb could feel her rage as though fueled by the fires of the Abyss itself.

"Of course… Well G'Night M'Lord, M'Lady." Reb returned quickly vacating the room; the key turned in the lock and he quickly went downstairs to let the workers know their new guests were not to be disturbed, but part of the shrewd old Inn-keepers mind couldn't help but wonder, how had this young human man become so favored as to gain the rank of the Spider Lords, by their true mistresses the Drow Priestesses?

"I recognize nothing of this place." Velasca stated eyeing the odd style of masonry with uncertain eyes; Alumni nodded removing his cloak and tossing it aside to dry, sitting down he began to pry the strangely crafted armor from his person.

"I know nothing of it either." He remarked ignoring Velasca's glare. "Though it seems our benefactor at least clothed me in the raiment's of a nobleman; we shan't have much trouble with locals and any brigands will think twice before accosting us." He mused; Velasca did not budge from her place near the door even as Alumni stripped almost nude, her eyes remained locked on the back of his head as though expecting something.

"Well?" She demanded finally fed up with the silence and the waiting.

"What?" Alumni retorted grumpily he had nearly exhausted himself in the long trek down the cold mountain, the metallic armor did nothing to retain his body heat; and he was decidedly annoyed at the half-frozen state his body was in.

"You have power over me and are a weak pitiful mortal man; I expect you shall order me to bed you." She replied coldly; Alumni chuckled and took a moment to eye her fully formed and well muscled body.

"Though I might hold some desire to conquer that bountiful bosom of yours; the Master would not approve." He returned simply, honestly, shrugging as he got up out of the chair close to the fire where he'd sat to warm himself and moved over to the bed. "Amazing how the cold saps everything; I was unconscious most of the day yet I still feel utterly exhausted, in the morning we must arrange provisions for our lengthy journey." He informed; Velasca nodded lacking anything better to do, Alumni hid a tiny smirk as he settled down for the night. "Strip nude and join me… Concubine." He commanded in a teasing tone; Velasca's eyes narrowed as her body began to undress itself, it did not take long and Alumni's eyes lit up almost with a matching yellow glow to the creatures as he beheld her soft and firm flesh.

"I thought he would not approve." She confronted; Alumni laughed sounding almost like the creature he'd dubbed Tarantulas as he did.

"Of wasting time with sex, yes; of sleeping together in the same bed, no and I do so long to hold such a beautiful trollop as yourself by my side in the cold winter nights." He commented; Velasca's fury was great, none would dare such a thing if she were in full control of her body and yet there was not one thing she could do about it. Sliding next to the shorter man she bristled at his touch, Amazon law forbade this, she was a Goddess now as well and yet the teachings of those weak-hearted fools still clung to her despite her Godhood, despite her very assault upon Artemis's temple. The man tainted her body with an insincere kiss on the brow and settled for a long sleep; Velasca would not forgive this effrontery, nor would she forget.

**

* * *

It sat upon the altar; having fallen to this realm accidentally it was now worshiped by those who understood nothing of its' true power, nothing of its' true nature and so it lay seemingly forgotten by its' creators, its' former master had perished at the hands of the Light Bearers' Vessel and yet it could sense the one even now coming for it, though it had stopped to rest the less then perfect flesh form it currently possessed; soon the Drow would learn the blunder they had so ineptly made, soon… Yes soon.**

* * *

Alumni failed to feel at ease even in the morning; there was just something so unnerving and unsettling when there was no sun in the sky, the power of the Dark Matrix must surely have been tapped unconsciously by those who had found it. Judging by the lack of a sun and the fact that these so called Spider Lords were in charge it was obvious that the Drow of the Underdark had taken possession of his Masters' greatest power.  
Alumni did not question the knowledge he possessed; Tarantulas and their mutual Master knew all things after all concerning those who laid hands upon the Dark Matrix, Velasca was still clearly enraged by her forced servitude as the two of them finished getting dressed and left to resume the journey.

"Thank you for your patronage M'Lord." The shop keep stated as Alumni led the fallen Goddess back into the cold chill of this dismal place, Velasca was clearly uncertain as to the origin of his species; obviously she knew nothing of Dwarves.

"Will this be enough provisions?" The Goddess demanded glaring at her master; Alumni checked over the supplies with a practiced eye and then pulled out his larger satchel of gold, the bag felt decidedly light.

"It must suffice; our coin has been severely depleted and I'm afraid we can not get any more." He informed; Velasca nodded slightly and eyed the other people traveling about in the bitter cold, many of whom gave the duo a wide berth.

"Where exactly are we going?" Velasca demanded; Alumni shook his head as he led the way to the cities limits and the long winding roadways of the great unknown.

"I do not know its' name, but it is a city beneath the Earth; a realm of great and absolute darkness." He replied. "It is there we shall reclaim my Masters' talisman." He added certainly; Velasca took his words unemotionally together the two of them reached the road beyond Elfilhelm, there one of the Inn keepers employees waited with large traveling pouches packed with food and other provisions Alumni gathered from the Inn. "Thank you." He stated tossing a silver piece to the young boy who snatched it up hastily; Velasca shot a glare at the mortal child and began to trod off down the winding road, Alumni followed closing his eyes and feeling the call of his Master's talisman. And Velasca wasn't one to be conversational; this would indeed be a long silent trek, perhaps it would be better to seek out other traveling companions who at least might alleviate the boredom.  
Then again that might be a bad idea; unfortunately the rules of a quest could not be ignored, despite Alumni's complete faith in his Masters' wishes in this place there were many believers and in truth many who were not of this place that sought to prevent the young man from retrieving the Talisman, already events had been set in motion to hinder Alumni's mission.

* * *

The High Priestess of Lloth removed her hands from the great power; that which had blotted the sun from existence so that the Drow may conquer the surface world, a gift from Lloth herself and the visions it bestowed upon her told of a dark pretender. One who would steal away the very thing that kept the Drow in power throughout most of the Realms; she would have to hinder this fool and prevent his entrance into the Underdark.

"Daughter." She called in a rasping voice; the High Priestess had aged rapidly since coming in contact with the great power, but it was a small sacrifice to make in this difficult time.

"Yes High Priestess." Her daughter answered entering the presence of the talisman cautiously; she was highly suspect of its' origins, for unlike her mother she felt a great evil not of Lloth emanating from it.

"Take a contingent of Myrlochar to the surface; in the realm of Cormyr you will find a false Spider Lord in the company of a barbarian woman." The High Priestess ordered. "He comes to take the great power of Lloth from us; you will kill him." She commanded; her daughter bowed her head in respect and quickly left, though she did not wish to she could think of no way to escape this duty.

* * *

"Where do you think you're going? Flint had said." The spirit remarked to himself as he trudged through the deep snow in the wonderfully brand new forest he found himself in. "Off to explore new lands. I had replied." He continued talking to himself with a wide smile as he hopped out of the deep rut and finally found a more manageable path for his diminutive stature. "Damn fool don't you know that the dead don't go on adventures. Flint had shouted after me." He added with a chuckle his hoopak clutched tight in one hand as he got his bearings again; according to that map he'd found the boarder of Cormyr was nearby and that place sounded very exciting with tons of new places and people to see. "That's fine. I'd called back; if you want to hang out under this tree for the rest of eternity that's what you do, but you know how we Kender are. So I picked up my pouches and my hoopak and here I am; it's certainly different from Ansalon, for one thing there's no sun and all those Dark Elf people are in charge. I wonder why this Elminster character hasn't overthrown them yet? According to everything I've heard whispered about him he could be even more powerful then Raistlin was." The character rambled on to himself as he continued on his solitary journey; so far he hadn't seen any Kender in this place, or most of the other races of Krynn for that matter as he remembered them, it was certainly different and exciting.  
Pausing; the spirit tilted his head to one side; had he or had he not heard something, he must have for his ears weren't prone to hearing things, or were they?

"How can you even tell when it gets' late?" A woman's voice demanded; good there were people here, maybe an adventure was about to start he should go and ask these travelers to join them, maybe they were going to Cormyr.

"I can't, but it does seem we've been traveling the better part of the day and it has gotten darker." A man's voice pointed out; his mind made up the spirit headed for the source of those voices, spirit was really a relative term in referring to what he was now, he wasn't alive, yet he wasn't all floating and transparent and stuff like the dread knight Lord Soth. In fact he seemed to be almost flesh and blood again, of course the biggest differences were his lack of appetite; he found he didn't have to eat as much as he used to or as often and he also found that the cold really didn't bother him. Being a Kender he was naturally disappointed that he couldn't see through his body like a ghost could; he had no idea if he was a zombie like that one character had called him when he first left Flint under the tree, he didn't even know what a zombie was, whatever he was now he'd have to ask Fizban about it all when he got back to Flints' tree.  
He found the source of the voices not far off; they were both on the path, well really it was a different path then the one he'd been on. A beautiful woman dressed all in white fur, but not really wearing much kind of like Goldmoon was glaring at what might have been a knight in black armor adorned with spiders and web designs; both of them had a dark brown hair color and swords, but the knight strangely enough wasn't carrying a shield. His eyes lit up with child-like wonder; this was the first time he'd met one of the Spider Lords up close every other time they'd been too far away, or blocked by taller people, emerging from the trees he walked up to the two of them unnoticed.

"This I suppose is as fine a place as any other to camp." The woman stated vehemently; she really didn't like this Spider Lord by the sound of things.

"Naturally; we'd best build a fire, I'm surprised those plants can even still live without the sun." The Spider Lord remarked; the spirit nodded in agreement, he'd wondered about that himself. Well if he was going to start another new adventure with these perhaps pleasant new friends he'd better introduce himself, so deciding to do so he cleared his throat.

"Hi are you really a Spider Lord; 'cause I heard they wore armor like that, but I also heard they're all Drow Elves. Can you do any magic if you are one; they say you can control spider demons or something, and who's your friend? She kind of looks like a barbarian from Icewind Dale; a pretty place to visit sometimes, that's where I met that other Drow, are you traveling to Cormyr, I thought of going myself, but really I could go anywhere you're going if you need some help, I've got loads of maps you know and I was a Hero of the Lance and everything." He said all in one breath; the woman looked quite livid at this intrusion, the Spider Lord was clearly surprised and seemed to be genuinely trying to figure out what the little fellow had just said.

"What is that?" The woman demanded rudely glaring pointedly at the armored man as if he should know everything.

"Looks a little like a child, but I highly doubt it." The man replied; the spirit smiled, that was how everyone reacted upon first meeting him anywhere that wasn't Krynn, and even in some places on Krynn, Krynn seemed to be the only place Kender existed.

"I'm a Kender from Krynn; born in Kendermore on the continent of Ansalon, but you've probably never heard of it, no one has. My names Tasslehoff Burrfoot, but everyone calls me Tas." He explained holding out his hand to shake; neither human made a single move to shake it. "Anyway; I've been traveling three weeks now and you're the first people I've run into since leaving Icewind Dale, but I think that's because I got lost when I passed that funny looking castle and the caravan of… Well I never stopped to ask really; so do you think I could tag along wherever you're going?" Tas asked his eyes twinkling excitedly at the prospect of another great adventure or even a not so great one, he wasn't picky, but he also never wanted to admit this to Flint who was one of his closest and dearest friends, being dead was kind of boring after all your stories were shared.

"Can I kill him?" The woman asked a dark gleam in her eyes; Tas shied away from her slightly, the man shook his head.

"Velasca he is not our enemy." The man pointed out. "Besides we have to set up camp; if the little fool wants to tag along I doubt we could stop him anyway." He added with an imperceptible sigh; maybe he knew of the Kender after all, Velasca glared between the two of them and stormed off leaving Tas behind with the unnamed man. "Well if you're going to come with us Tasslehoff you'd best act useful, let me see those maps of yours." He demanded; Tas grinned helpfully and eagerly dumped out a pouch onto the ground, a lot of useless clutter fell out including a small dagger, the emblem of a spider with a womans' head and an unassuming looking box with odd symbols all over it, maybe it was magic.

"Now where'd this come from?" Tas wondered picking the box up thoughtfully; the man rolled his eyes though the Kender didn't see it, the Kender also didn't know what was going on inside the man. The soul buried within seemed to recognize him, while the newly born spark manipulating his body tolerated what might prove to be a useful tool for his Master's needs; had he already possessed the knowledge of his future self he might have recognized the scribblings on the box as Cybertronix the language of the Cybertronians, whose race he would one day be joining, but he was still thinking in human terms and thus couldn't read the dire portents on the box.

"The maps." He reminded; Tas nodded bobbingly and hastily returned the other stuff to his many pouches while producing a small case, digging through it he selected one of the rolled up maps and studied it, he didn't recognize it, but it certainly wasn't anywhere on Krynn, must have been one of the strange maps he'd discovered as part of his collection when he started off on this journey in that strange realm, what had it's name been again?

"This might be helpful." He mused passing it to the man who took it eagerly; of course he knew nothing of these lands, but hopefully his Master would point him in the right direction. "Middle-Earth; that sounds like an interesting place, but I don't remember ever going there, I wonder what The Shire is like." Tas added thoughtfully studying another of the maps he hadn't had when he died; though in truth all of his current possessions weren't real, at least not in the sense that they had been the exact same ones he'd had on his body when he died pricking Chaos in the foot with his little dagger, those were buried with him on Krynn, these were gifts given unknowingly to him by Fizban to replace the ones he'd lost. Alumni tuned the annoying little Kender out as he carefully studied the map; it appeared to be one for this place, there was a big Cormyr written across one of the sections of the continent or was it continents? The soul inside asleep to the world during this dark mission seemed to be enjoying the Kenders' company however, perhaps sensing a kindred spirit, or even simply an old friend.

* * *

Sheera led the contingent of men to where they needed to go to reach the surface; it was a difficult trek for Beholders' and other creatures hazardous to the Drow hunted these passageways. The task they had was one of disinterest and suspicion; not to mention fear, for she did not trust the visions given by this strange object from the sky.  
Her mother truly believed it to be a gift from Lloth, but she felt it had other origins; more sinister origins. The one time she'd dared to touch it without her mothers' knowledge she'd felt the presence of a malevolent presence; possibly a God, but it was definitely not Lloth for this presence was male and surrounded by unknown stars.

"M'Lady; Kizâd reports we have reached the passage to the surface." Targûl reported approaching her; Sheera nodded and eyed the cavern walls around her, the glowing fungi was looking less bright.

"Let's hurry then I want this task to be over with and to return to the halls of Menzoberranzan before the snows resume." She ordered; Targûl nodded and swiftly relayed the orders to the others, Sheera resisted the urge to shudder as memories of that presence continued to haunt her.

* * *

Alumni eyed the city of Suzail rather impressed; it had taken five days through the Hullack Forest and an immeasurable amount of days afterwards trying to reach the capital of Cormyr, somehow the Kender had a map of the region, but strangely enough Elfilhelm was not on the map. The Kender argued that the town in question was outside the boarders of Cormyr so naturally it wasn't included; Velasca had barely said one word since the Kender joined the party, but then again the enslaved Goddess wasn't one to share anyway and Tasslehoff spoke on and on for the entire group. The city of Suzail was much different from the other towns they had encountered; in point of fact the reception here was much to be desired compared to others, hostility seemed to be the watchword of the day.

"I don't think they like Spider Lords here." Tas commented. "But then again Spider Lords are really evil and enslaving all of Faerûn; normally I don't travel with the bad guys, but I'm really just interested in adventuring at the moment and I've always wondered what being on the evil side would be like." He added with a genuine smile; Velasca rolled her eyes, Alumni however took his words into consideration.

"Coming here might have been a mistake." He remarked; without warning someone popped in front of the trio a rather disturbed look in his eyes, Velasca pulled out her sword cautiously and Tasslehoff looked wide-eyed at the man.

"Your presence is not welcome in Cormyr Spider Lord; I know not how you managed to traverse through our lands so effortlessly for many defend our boarders, man and other. State your intentions or risk incarceration." He ordered; Velasca twirled her blade single handedly intent on attacking the mysterious arrival.

"My intention is to find a passage into the Underdark; the Drow of… Some city I know not its' name have stolen a talisman which belongs to my Master." Alumni replied; the woman lowered her blade, but was obviously on edge and the mysterious older man assumed a pensive look.

"I do not know if your reclaiming of this talisman would be of interest to us; I must consult our regent and you of course will accompany me." He ordered; Alumni was about to protest when Tas burst into a string of chatter.

"Oh boy meeting the queen would be great; will we get to teleport there like you did coming here, does teleporting make you sick. Are we your prisoners; you know the jails of Cormyr might be better then some of the ones on Ansalon, of course I don't think it'd be too difficult to escape from them… Why do you call your queen the regent anyway; I heard some people saying she was a queen, but everyone calls her the regent because… Actually I think she's a princess isn't she, but I know there is a queen; and…" Tas continued to babble on and on while Alumni, Velasca and the unnamed mage or wizard eyed him disbelievingly.

"May I kill him now?" Velasca demanded; Alumni shook his head and Velasca growled, the unnamed man held up a hand.

"Silence that Halfling or I will." He ordered; Tas was about to say something in protest when Alumni clamped a hand over his mouth.

"Perhaps you should save your questions for after we get out of this particular confrontation friend Kender." He suggested; the Kender nodded his topknot bobbing along with it and the old codger raised his hands.

"To the regent." He ordered and in the blink of an eye they were teleported into the castle; seated upon her throne the Princess Alusair Nacacia Obarskyr was not expecting Vangerdahast to return so swiftly, nor was she expecting the Spider Lord, Halfling and Barbarian woman to be with him, the Halfling burst into a wide grin and jumped up and down his long hair flopping from side to side.

"That was great I can't wait to tell Flint about that when I get back to his tree; he's going to be jealous he didn't come with me on this adventure, though I don't expect he'd be too thrilled to be working with followers of Takhisis or whichever God you're working for." The Halfling remarked; the Spider Lord rolled his eyes, but smiled secretively.

"Tas; now is not the time for your excitement." He grumbled; the Barbarian woman looked like she wanted to kill the little fellow and Alusair was surprised she managed to contain herself.

"Oh right." Tas returned eyeing the numerous spears pointing at him from the guards. "Sorry Spider Lord… Say; we've been traveling for over a month and you never told me your name." He observed; the Spider Lord chuckled.

"Alumni little Kender; I go by Alumni." He replied with a formal bow aimed up at the Princess by way of introduction.

"Vangerdahast what is the meaning of this?" Alusair demanded as though the Halflings' outburst had not occurred; the elder wizard bowed his head and eyed the guarded trio.

"I wished to seek council with the Regent of Cormyr; this false Spider Lord claims the Drow stole a powerful talisman and that may be the cause of their dominance, as well as most notably the disappearance of the sun." He replied; Alusair was quite surprised, she eyed the Spider Lord suspiciously and now that she had the opportunity to study him closely she came to the startling revelation that this Spider Lord was actually human and not Drow.

"Indeed." She mused softly. "And what might this talisman be? No magic has the power to alter reality so thoroughly; how can we trust you aren't some ill conceived attempt at a vanguard for their invasion of Cormyr?" She demanded; the young man chuckled darkly and briefly traced the pommel of his sword with his left hand, the barbarian woman eyed him with a deep intensity obviously she appeared in the dark as to the truths surrounding this man and his claims as much as the Cormyrians were.

"It goes by many names fair lady; the Dead Matrix Annex, the Dark Matrix, the Matrix of Conquest even the Dark Spark, but it is no mere mystical talisman." Alumni informed a twisted reverence visible in his eyes as he spoke of this thing and his mind began to visualize the events surrounding it. "It is one of a handful of objects crafted by the most devout of followers from far beyond even your Realms; one particular worshipper spent centuries in the search to find the remains of his fallen God and when he did, he trapped the still flickering essence within a metallic shell, a casing designed to harness the powers of the deity that had long since been vanquished and deposed by his hated nemesis the God of Light. The Matrix does not belong to the Drow; they do not understand what its' true power is, it belongs only to they who can call themselves truly worthy of my Lord Unicrons' favor." He stated in an almost deranged tone of voice; Vangerdahast gasped at this claim, Princess Alusair did not like what she was hearing.

"Impossible." The barbarian woman exclaimed her eyes seemingly glowing. "No one can imprison the essence of a God." She stated vehemently; Alumni burst into an insane cackle and almost seemed to dance around the woman his eyes once again glowing deep yellow.

"So they say Velasca, but my Master is no ordinary God; he is the true embodiment of Chaos itself, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!" He cried psychotically; the woman cringed shying away from her companion and eyeing him with an uncertain emotion, Vangerdahast, the guards and Princess Alusair eyed him uncertainly wary of what he might do in his madness. As suddenly as he started he stopped a gleam passing over his eyes and he shook his head as if to remove some unwanted thing; surprisingly enough the Halfling had a serious expression on his face.

"What are you going to do with this, uh, Ma-Tr-Ex thing if you get it?" He asked surprisingly not rambling for once or sounding the remotest bit innocent as he often did; Alumni, now calmer smiled with genuine sympathy.

"Remove it of course; it does not belong here nor does it belong to me I am not worthy, only the true chosen wielder may possess it and what he does with it I could care less so long as he doesn't destroy me for failing to acquire it… Lord Unicron is a powerfully dangerous God to cross and does not accept failure lightly." He replied unconcerned with the fate of this talisman; Alusair shuddered at this proclamation no matter who possessed it, it appeared to be a force of great evil.

"I can see your dilemma old wizard." She commented. "Guards; arrest them!" She ordered; the woman reached for her sword, Alumni appeared indifferent and the Halfling actually looked pleased.

"Velasca, you shall not resist." He ordered his companion instantly she handed over her sword to the nearest guard, but appeared very reluctant to do so; calmly Alumni presented his own weapon and the guards marched the three of them out the Halfling babbling on about some place called Tarsis and how nice the jail was.

"That was unsettling and far too easy." Vangerdahast observed; the Princess nodded slumping into her seat.

"We must contact the other rulers whose lands are still resisting the Drow to discuss this Matrix talisman and what should be done about it." She suggested confidently; Vangerdahast nodded and quickly left the room, Elminster would not like this, not one bit.

_

* * *

Unicron laughed darkly at the reaction of the human characters involved in the drama that was the constant curse the Dark Spark presented to all the lands it ever came in contact with; at one point he recalled the Autobot Rodimus Prime had attempted to control its' powers and paid a dear price for it. Two other beings stood beneath the current location of the Gods' essence; it was always difficult for his followers to know which Unicron among the multitude of alternate reality counterparts they were interacting with, but they were as ever loyal to the last._

"_Should we intervene my lord?" The hulking black Decepticon with the teal highlights asked; Unicron growled._

"_This task was appointed to Tarantulas, and to Tarantulas the decision shall be made; we can not send Cybertronians to that place, the Gods warring for dominance over it and other like-minded realities would not approve of introducing science to mystical realms of so called fantasy creatures such as these." He stated; the silent other nodded accepting this decision and ignored what was occurring on that world, it was difficult to tell just what size of a world it was considering they could only observe the spark infested human known as Alumni._

"_My lord; reports from the Cybertron designated One Thousand Three Hundred are not good, if you will recall Razorclaw is slowly slipping into insanity as he continues to attempt to destroy Optimus Primal." He pointed out; Unicron chuckled darkly._

"_Patience my true Herald; soon Razorclaw will no longer be a threat to the stability of the Universe Conflict, but first Nemesis Prime must reclaim that which was lost by him, no thanks to that pathetic fool Galvatron." Unicron snarled; the other inclined his head respectfully and resumed observing events that would one day involve him, Nemesis Prime shifted in his stance and crossed his arms over his chest manifold._

"_The question is; can that pathetic little flesh-being even succeed." He mused to himself; Unicron paid this no mind, he had other things to see to in order to ensure that those monitoring the man who was called Alain Desrochers continued to ignore his absence from the timeline._

* * *

Sheera met with Erumrae on the outskirts of Tilverton just close to the boarder of Cormyr; any Drow in that kingdom would be too conspicuous, the Spider Lord and the Priestess were to discuss the fool posing as one of their kind.

"Cousin; welcome to the surface." Erumrae greeted with a smile; the Drow priestess smiled friendly pleased that she was meeting one of her family.

"How do you stand this cold?" She wondered; Erumrae shrugged, Sheera knew that the pleasantries were over. "Where is he?" She asked.

"The fool entered Cormyr's lands; his path took him straight to the dungeons of Suzail according to our spies." She replied; Sheera smiled pleased that the humans had inadvertently done their work for them.

"Let us claim the pretender then." The Drow Priestess stated smiling sinisterly; Erumrae grinned, this mission would be an easy one and it had been such a long time since either had, had the pleasure of breaking a human male with their tender mercies.

* * *

Tasslehoff Burrfoot really didn't think being with the bad guys this time was such a good idea; Flint and Tanis would definitely not approve, but then again maybe his meeting up with these followers of some evil God, called Unicorn or something like that was something Fizban wanted him to do, to stop them from getting that Mat-Rex thing.

"It sounds just like the Graygem of Gargath; only not, and I really don't want to be stepped on again, I mean can you die more than once if you're a wandering spirit? And what is a Halfling anyway; everybody calls me that, but I'm a Kender, I know they don't have Kender here, but can't they use my name… Oh right I didn't introduce myself properly; ha, doorknob of a Kender. I can just hear Flint now yelling at me and Tanis giving me one of his stern lectures…" Tas trailed off as the lockpick he'd been using finally popped the lock to his cell; now all he had to do is find Alumni and that Velasca woman without the guards stopping him, but first he had to get his pouches back they had all his maps. "You know that was a great lock, much better then the ones in Tarsis." He added to himself as he opened the door and stepped out; perfect not a guard in sight and what luck his pouches and hoopak were just down the hall, maybe he'd rethink the praise he'd given the guards earlier if they didn't even believe anyone might escape. "This place really needs Kender; the Solamnic Knights would never be this lax with security." He chided heading down the hall to reclaim his belongings; after that he could get Alumni and Velasca out so he could help them until they got him to the Mat-Rex then he'd just take it for safekeeping, or maybe bring it to Fizban surely the old wizard would know what to do with it.

* * *

In truth the guards of Suzail were actually currently out on the battlements repelling invading Myrlochar and the Orcs that had joined them; their Drow Priestess mistress had teleported them into Cormyr proper rather than waste time traveling and fighting every outpost from Tilverton to Suzail, as such with Vangerdahast and the wizards all busy contacting the other nobles of the Realms they had taken the Cormyrians unawares. And so while Tasslehoff Burrfoot made good his escape and plotted to prevent his unlikely companions from destroying the world of Faerûn, the guards fought valiantly for their lives and those of their future king; the battle was a bloody chaotic mess.

"How did they get past all the wards?" One guard demanded thrusting his blade into the heart of an Orc sending it tumbling from the siege ladder into several of its' allies.

"That Spider Lord we captured must have done something." The Captain hissed blood dripping from his sword and forehead from a gash that one of the Drow warriors had caused. Orcs and Drow appeared to be everywhere; though in truth some were merely illusions conjured by the Priestess hidden from view, the guards couldn't tell what was real or illusion and it cost many their lives.  
But many Orcs fell too; the Drow lost barely a single contingent of their number so scattered were the two small bands of warriors they managed to evade the blades of their foes, and yet they still could not penetrate the castle for whatever magic had dispelled the wards preventing Drow spells from working had failed them almost instantly now that they were within the city limits, Sheera was being taxed quite a bit to complete the illusion spell as it stood. Erumrae was beginning to worry for her cousin could not keep up the lone spell indefinitely; and though the Drow were naturally resistant to magic of any kind, a powerful sorcerer such as Vangerdahast might still best them once he joined the fight.

"This is a fool's errand." Erumrae spoke up addressing her cousin. "Cloak me in illusion if you can and I shall slip unnoticed into the palace." She added; Sheera opened her eyes and nodded despite the beads of sweat pouring from her brow, the Drow woman vanished replaced by a comely looking servant wench. Making her way to the servants entrance she screamed piteously and ran from some Orcs; one of the guards spotting her allowed her safe passage as he slew the twisted beasts, smiling sinisterly to herself she slipped unseen into the palace proper and made her way towards the dungeons.

* * *

"You see; I told you, all of us Kender are great at picking locks." Tas proclaimed as he helped open Alumni's door; the false Spider Lord smirked bemusedly and accepted the little fellows word.

"I'm surprised you'd help us Tas; considering we're in service to a Dark God and all that." He remarked; Tas shrugged and moved over to Velasca's cell.

"It doesn't matter to me really; the Drow have that Ma-Trex thing, and you're trying to get it away from them, I expect that's really important and a good thing, and boy do these Cormyrians make good locks." He finished eyeing his twisted lockpick forlornly; shrugging again he tossed it aside and fished out a new one from one of his many pockets. "Besides; if there really is a God trapped in that thing he shouldn't be changing the world and taking away the sun, a lot of things need the sun… And you are going to make it come back right?" He wondered glancing up from his work at Alumni; the man was just placing his sword in his scabbard having claimed it from where the guards hung it on the wall along with Velasca's, he nodded simply.

"Of course; as I implied before the Drow do not deserve the gifts of my Master, and none are allowed to harness the powers of the Matrix save those few chosen by him." He replied; finally the lock clicked and the Kender eagerly opened the door, Velasca marched out with a glare.

"Your prattling is enough to wake the dead; and I could have broken that door down with my strength had you ordered it Male." She growled reclaiming her birthright from the mans' outstretched hand; Tas burst into a fit of giggles, of course neither of them knew he actually already was dead.

"And make our Kender friend feel useless; hardly." He scoffed in a low breath before turning to eye the empty corridors. "Hurry; I don't think we're very welcome in Cormyr any more and relish not to waste time fighting our way out of this accursed place, perhaps it was a mistake coming here fully." He grumbled beckoning from down the hall where he'd begun walking during his speech; Velasca stormed after him Tas hot on her heels doing his best to keep up with the longer strides of the humans.

"Must we take the wretched Kender-thing?" She demanded haughtily; Alumnis' eyes twinkled as he eyed the Kender.

"Of course; he did just get us out of those cells after all, besides he's much friendlier company then you are Slave." He stated reminding her of her place; Tas beamed proudly, even evil fake Spider Lords liked having him around and at least they didn't try to kill him like the Dragon Lords of Krynn used to every other day.

"When I am free of this bondage I shall delight in ripping out your heart; then I shall return to Greece and kill Gabrielle and her pet Xena." Velasca proclaimed savagely; Alumni's expression became one of pure maliciousness.

"What makes you think Tarantulas will ever set you loose again bitch." He hissed coldly; Tas didn't know if he wanted to be friends with Alumni as he kept insulting the woman that was supposedly his companion, but then again Kitiara and Raistlin were bad after a while and he stayed friends with them.

"How do we get out of here now?" Velasca wondered forcing herself to ignore the implied threat; Alumni shrugged as he eyed the two staircases leading up, one on the left and one on the right.

"I didn't think to ask directions when we were brought down here." He muttered. "A shame we can't use that teleporting trick ourselves, but magic isn't one of my skill sets." He remarked glancing back to his companions a sudden thoughtful look in his eyes. "Or can we?" He wondered a small smile spreading across his lips.

"I can not use my full Godhood; the spider creature has somehow dampened them." Velasca pointed out; Alumni chuckled.

"Perhaps, perhaps not; Velasca I order you to take us to the courtyard, a short range journey to test my theory." He commanded; Velasca's eyes glowed again and suddenly they were outside the castle in the main courtyard, Tas was excited again hopping up and down.

"Oh wow; how'd we do that?" He asked; Velasca almost fell to her knees the agony proving too great, Alumni steadied her with genuine compassion as the other soul emerged briefly.

"I sense Unicrons' hand in this." He observed; Velasca glared at him, but for once her gaze softened as though perhaps something clashed with her proud and arrogant nature a taint from the mortal before her. Erumrae froze; she had been in the process of reaching the dungeons, had in fact been on one of those self-same staircases glimpsed by the others briefly and now, now she was once again back in the courtyard as though having been teleported by some unseen magic against her will, but she knew none of them had even attempted such a spell. The pretender stood not far away along with the barbarian woman and the Halfling; drawing her sword Erumrae made to strike and cast off the illusion, without warning the Halfling saw her and used his odd walking stick thing to hurl a stone at her from his pouch.  
Or what he thought was a stone; in truth it was a round diamond he'd picked up from the old mage when they'd been standing so close together, it smacked into Erumrae's unprotected forehead and exploded covering her face in dust, she promptly sneezed violently. The pretender strode quickly across the courtyard and slammed the pommel of his sword in the now exposed back of her head; she crumpled swiftly to the stone floor, smiling he promptly picked the elf up.

"Can we teleport again?" Tas asked hopefully; Velasca glared at him, Alumni smirked as he spotted the stables.

"How good are your riding skills Velasca?" He wondered striding swiftly towards said stable.

"I was an Amazon." She pointedly reminded; Tas trailed happily along, his plan was working perfectly Flint would be so proud, Tanis too. Together the three of them broke into the stable and swiftly made off with some horses; now they just had to get out of the castle proper, perhaps easier said than done.

* * *

Sheera saw the riders escaping with her cousin in their clutches; it couldn't be anyone else for why would they make off with one of the Cormyrian nobles? She knew she couldn't rally the others fast enough and even she had lost count of how many Drow warriors had died; she could wait no longer, moving away from the castle she followed after the horses. She knew she should have ordered the retreat, but none of the Myrlochar were her kin and she had to protect her cousin or risk losing the lineage of her family to darkness; heeding the strong urge that called her unknowingly from beyond the stars she left the remaining Drow and Orc to die and chased after the horses.  
She was gone in time to miss the coming of Vangerdahast and his wizards, the remaining Drow were decimated swiftly and those Orcs remaining fled to save their own hides; the battle of Suzail was over before much blood could have been spilt.

* * *

"The prisoners escaped with three of our best horses M'Lady." One of the guards replied to the unspoken question; Alusair slumped in her seat turning to the old wizard for good news.

"I'm sorry Princess; none can spare any to come, the Drow have stepped up their assault on Waterdeep and Evereska." Vangerdahast informed. "Elminster said he would try to come, but Evermeet is in dire straights as well and as you know the Purple Dragons are all engaged near the High Horn repelling the Orcs and others sent against us by the Drow." He added; Alusair did not like the news she was getting, she felt it was though some outside force were orchestrating the entire event, the strange party of servants to this mysterious Dark God Unicron were free to roam as they wished. It wouldn't take them long to venture into the Underdark, or force a Drow to take them there; events had exploded into total anarchy.

"This does not bode well for Faerûn." She remarked glancing to where her mother might have been, but as always she was busy with her Grandson in this time of need. "We must do something to try and stop them." The Princess muttered softly; Vangerdahast nodded thoughtfully a small smile playing across his lips.

"There may be a way at that Princess." He revealed; Alusair perked up at that, the old wizard had an idea and whenever he had one of those it usually meant something grand.

* * *

Erumrae was not conscious for most of the long hard ride from Suzail to the abandoned barn her three captors managed to locate as a resting place; the blow to the back of her head seemed to have been caused by a giant judging by the amount of pain throbbing through her skull, the rattling of chains sounded as though the cries of some God fallen from grace and cursed with mortal existence.

"Why'd you take all her clothes off?" The voice of the Halfling asked as she groggily returned to waking.

"Because Alumni is a perverted male who delights in robbing women of their dignity." The barbarian woman replied; the pretender cackled at that in a tone that would have chilled the soul of a normal person, but to the Drow it was common place.

"Velasca is biased Tas; in truth I did it to exert some power over the elf, though I doubt she'd approve either way." He corrected; Erumrae opened her eyes to find herself in the hayloft of an old barn, with dried and brittle hay still resting beneath her itching at her skin as it came in contact with her. Her hands had been shackled behind her back and her own tunic had been used to silence her covering her mouth so she could not incant any spells she might know; the pretender stood above her his armor removed, he was wearing a simple tunic of black underneath it and matching black leggings, or what might have passed for leggings they were so flush with his calves it might have been the color of his skin were it not for the pale white face and hands he possessed.  
The Drow was removed of all clothing; her ebony black skin itched at the coarse hay touching it and her short cropped ivory hair had bits of hay sticking out of it, they had bound her legs with old coarse feeling ropes causing her no end of unpleasantness and she saw that the pretender was watching her soft voluptuous mounds rise and fall the reason obvious to her, for her nipples were standing erect because of the cold. "I didn't think elves would look like that." The strange little Halfling remarked eyeing her curiously and with wonder in his eyes. "I mean Dalamar was a dark elf, but his skin and hair were normal compared to the rest of the elves and he didn't have red eyes; she is still really beautiful though, but I don't think I should be seeing her like this because I remember one time…" He trailed off his conversational tone falling flat as he eyed Alumni; the false Spider Lord had a strange almost malevolent glint in his eyes and his fingers twitched in a strange rhythmic kind of dance as though he wanted to touch the Drow laying helpless before them.

"Quite an exotic beauty." He agreed with a tiny chuckle. "If we weren't on a mission for my Master I might take advantage of her." He added smiling twistedly his eyes seeming to flash and glow a dull yellow as if they weren't those of a human being, but something far worse Erumrae shied away from him as best as she could in her bonds; she felt fear. "So many experiments I could perform; so many new poisons I could create… But enough of this; you are our prisoner Drow." He hissed leaning down and glaring into her defiant eyes. "The Drow possess my Master's talisman; you will take us to the city in the Underdark it resides within or you will learn the meaning of true torture at my hands." He growled; the Halfling looked slightly upset by those words, but hid it well and the barbarian seemed indifferent. Erumrae shook her head defiantly and glared angrily upon the pretender; he dared to claim any other then Lloth had crafted that, which allowed the Drow to destroy the sun. He growled enraged and slapped her hard; again it felt as though he possessed strength that he should not, and he seemed both surprised and abashed at his assault.  
Suddenly the barn fell into darkness; Erumrae would have smiled if she could, her cousin had come to rescue her and together they would slay this pretender to the Spider Lord name. She heard a brief scuffle and then an explosion rocked her ears; when the light returned suddenly she knew that something had gone wrong, her cousin the Priestess lay limp upon the ground, the Halfling was unhurt, but also unconscious and the barbarian woman's eyes seemed to be glowing. The pretender stood unmoved from his position a slight smirk playing across his lips; an aura of purple and red seemed to shimmer around him, an aura that looked nothing like magic of the weave or the divine.  
"Two prisoners for the price of one; how generous of my Master." He remarked his voice seeming to sound different, more deranged and higher pitched and his eyes were once again glowing that strange yellow. "No mere magic can harm the servant of Chaos; Velasca strip that one as well and bring her up here to join her kinsman." He ordered; Erumrae's face fell as she watched the woman almost reluctantly begin undressing what little clothing Sheera did wear, certainly she wouldn't have come alone and leave the Myrlochar back at the castle in Suzail, but as she stretched out with her normal senses and even a few mystical ones that were natural to the Drow she could sense no others of her kind within a hundred leagues.

"Wow; what hit me?" The Halfling suddenly spoke up. "And was it big and ferocious; did I get to slay one of those Beholder things? Or maybe a Naga, oh, where'd the other Drow come from, I think I have more manacles in here somewhere if you need them… I still don't think she has to be naked though; it's really not polite to see a woman without her clothes on even a Drow woman I'd imagine, I should know I walked in on Tika once when her door was locked and I was bored and boy was she mad, her face was all red too." He rambled on digging around in his pouches; pulling out a strange two-headed gold coin he wondered to himself where he'd gotten it from and then promptly stuffed it back into a different pouch.

"Velasca; you and the Kender shall sleep down below to guard against any further incursions, I shall remain up here to keep the Drow company." The pretender informed briefly running his fingers through Erumrae's hair; she shied away insulted and disgusted by his touch. "We shall convince them in the morning to… Guide us to the Matrix." He added softly a funny look passing behind his eyes as he mentioned the name of what he must call the Great Power; Erumrae watched helplessly as Velasca placed the bound and gagged Sheera opposite her, and then she glared openly as the pretender lay between them both forcing them up against his body with his arms. "Perhaps in the morning you'll be more suggestible to our needs." He added with a laugh; a cold calculating thing that made Erumrae wonder as to his sanity, for he seemed to have more mood swings then the High Priestess of late.

* * *

"Erumrae; are you awake?" A familiar voice asked much later or perhaps earlier depending on the time of day.

"Sheera; you have gotten your gag off, quick cast a spell so that we can kill this pathetic beast." Erumrae responded darkly; Sheera sighed and light seemed to come on revealing a well furnished room and comfortable bed, Erumrae was clearly confused and discovered much to her displeasure still naked, though no longer shackled and tied.  
Her cousin lay beside her propped up by one elbow in a semi-seductive pose of relaxation; she too appeared as confused as the Spider Lord, but kept her discomfort well hidden. "What, what is this?" She wondered uncertainly; Sheera shrugged from her position on the bed, Erumrae slid up into a sultry relaxive pose herself feeling a strange tingling of ease and safety throughout her entire body, her cousin was beginning to look very appealing to her in more then a simple familial way. The door leading into this room opened without sound or warning and the pretender walked in as naked as the Drow rubbing his hair with a long towel of midnight blue; he stopped short when he caught sight of the two elves.

"Oh; so now you mean to rape us in our minds." Sheera accused; the young human eyed the both of them in growing confusion and quickly glanced back out of the door as though he might have entered the wrong room.

"This is new." He commented in a voice that was soft and nothing like either tones' the elves had heard him use in the waking world; Erumrae noted his body was wet as though having just bathed an obvious conclusion considering the towel he'd been using to dry his hair, something about this man felt very different from the pretender. "Who might you be and how'd you get here? After all this is my mind; or at least what's left of it, Alumni's been keeping my amnesia around so I'm afraid the landscape leaves much to be desired and I still haven't recalled much, but I do at least recall my true name now." He added smiling warmly at the two Drow and tossing his towel aside allowing his toned body to dry naturally before them; Erumrae felt an unsettling desire at that smile and that body, she wanted sex with this man and it was unthinkable to her that she could even possibly desire him for anything more save a slave, a toy to amuse and yet. Here she was feeling lustful towards him and she began to think of him as her equal rather then a mere human male; Sheera seemed also to be hungering for him, she immediately slid up into a crouching cat-like position her longer ivory hair pooling down to cover her ebony toned breasts in a teasing, seductive measure.

"Mind?" She repeated seriously. "We are sharing your thoughts; that is impossible without the proper spells." She protested in a husky desire filled voice; the young man shrugged and sat on the edge of the bed a book seemingly appearing in his hand and he began to recite.

"The impossible however improbable must be the truth when all other solutions have been exhausted and discarded." He quoted. "I haven't a clue where this quote comes from, but its' veracity can not be denied; you're here aren't you?" He asked with a lustful smile of his own and Erumrae noted his manhood had stiffened to a considerable length as he continued to stare upon both Drow's nude forms. Without a hint of incantation or spell work of any kind an image wavered in front of him taking the shape of a medium sized mirror; whose glassy surface revealed the barn where they still slept, both bound and gagged the pretender blissfully asleep between them still clutching them to his chest. Erumrae was displeased to note her head had fallen comfortably into the position and she seemed almost at peace in her slumber. "And there as well in the real world; oh wow, now I wouldn't mind waking up to that kind of reception." He added with an appreciative whistle that made Erumrae and Sheera both feel the urges again; Erumrae shook her head and glared at the man startled to find herself creeping slowly towards him.

"Sorcerous dog." She spat; her cousin shook her head.

"No; his words are truthful cousin, I… I can feel it." Sheera countered stalking around the man even as she spoke coming up to his right side and nibbling at his shoulder with kisses; he closed his eyes reveling at the touch and a low happy rumble escaped from deep in his chest. Erumrae eyed her cousin as if she'd just grown another head or transfigured into a Spider servant of Lloth, but she too suddenly felt the truth of this mans' words; for as she concentrated on the image of the waking world she felt her arms still bound and heard the chains rattle and even saw herself shift slightly in his grasp sighing in her sleep.

"If this is truth then who are you and why are we here within your mind?" The Drow warrior demanded; the man grew pensive ignoring the kisses of Sheera who had grown single minded in her assault of his body moving down to his hair covered chest and relishing in the act and his eyes instantly lost focus.

"I'm not entirely certain; all I can piece together is that my name is Alain, Alumni and I seem to be two souls sharing one body, and someone called Tarantulas is responsible for Alumni usurping total control of my body for this task of his." He offered frustratedly; Erumrae found herself languishing next to the left-hand side of the young man one hand rubbing his chest in sympathy for the young man of all things, the Drow felt pity for no human, ever; and yet shaking her head she shied away afraid of her reaction though at the same time hungry to give in to her spirits' desires, for the young man claimed them to be in his mind thus it was only their spirits that now interacted. "Uh; sorry about you two acting all… Well whatever." He began to apologize blushing slightly with embarrassment; Erumrae smiled she could tell this human was a virgin, a prime conquest for one of her kind. "You see Alumni is keeping my soul all bottled up and contained; so my id and my ego and all the other things are all jumbled together, last night I was talking philosophically to Plato of all people and a couple of nights ago I was sparring with someone I can't remember the name of… So; ah, since you're both here you've kinda caused my sub-conscious self to, well… Hyper stimulation seems to be the word I'm going for; it's bleeding off on your sub-consciouses like crazy so we're all three." He coughed here and Erumrae smiled predatorily rising up to meet his gaze eye to eye; the Drow were no strangers to hyper sexed states, in fact they relished them.

"That doesn't bother me." Sheera spoke up coming up at last for air her hands busily and greedily rubbing the man's pectoral muscles as her head shifted onto his shoulder her cheek nuzzling up against his bare flesh.

"Nor me." Erumrae intoned in that predatory tone that made many Drow males envious when she chose to bed one of the prisoners before shipping him or even her off to the slave pits of the Underdark. Alain shuddered his eyes closing his embarrassment gone and his body reacted instinctively; the shaft hardening even further, this was what Erumrae wanted and she moved down to the floor kneeling before him and reaching out a hand, tracing the tip of his head with her left index finger.

"Why does he claim the Talisman as his own?" Sheera asked kissing the nape of his neck yet again; Alain sighed contentedly all moral inhibitions or arguments of wrongness lost to the throes of full stimulation.

"Because in a way it is; that thing is no gift from your Lloth, it is the essence of Unicron, Alumni's Master and it is doing everything it can to get back to him, it senses him, it is tied to him and all those who serve him; it shall not rest until once again it is within the embrace of its' creator." He revealed in a prophetic tone; Sheera looked alarmed and Erumrae ceased teasing his cock head with an expression of concern and disbelief, how could such a thing be true?

"What's wrong Cousin?" She asked sensing that Sheera believed this lie for some reason; Sheera turned to her desperate fear in her violet hued pupils.

"I have sensed this since the moment I touched the Talisman; a presence not of Lloth, but of a male, the image of a strange horned world rimmed by a ring of pure metallic substance and surrounded by stars of alien design." She informed; Erumrae looked worriedly at her cousin as she now shared these images freely due to the close proximity of their spiritual essences, the sight frightened Erumrae beyond all reason and she rested her head in Alain's lap seeking comfort and security as though a lost child.

"That is Unicron; he consumes whole worlds, destroys all in existence, or so Alumni deeply believes." Alain agreed his eyes closed now as unconsciously both Drow continued to paw and kiss his body; his testicles tasted a little salty compared to most humans and Erumrae was startled by her actions, though not enough to cease what she was doing.

"You hear the others' thoughts?" Sheera guessed in between kisses; both Drow had obviously lost their races inhibitions just as Alain had earlier, as though perhaps an outside force were influencing the Drow and the Human, Alain nodded as he moaned.

"Ooooo God, Erumrae you…" He trailed off and did his best to focus on the matter at hand. "Unicron is a great threat; I know this because Alumni revels in his Masters' killing of other Realms." He whispered; Sheera shuddered in fear and pleasurable wanton desire, rising up at last she took his head in her hands and kissed his lips greedily while Erumrae finally took his manhood within her mouth and began to roll her tongue over it hungrily. Alain elatedly accepted Sheera's kiss grasping the back of her head and stroking her long Ivory locks; his tongue probed past her lips and met hers and her eyes opened to see pure ecstatic bliss and great joy in his own ice blue orbs, such wonderfully rich and vibrant eyes. "This." He gasped pulling away. "Is." He moaned eyes closing as Erumrae silently continued to pump and suck at his long hard cock. "So." He growled reaching out for Sheera and grasping her mammaries in his hands eagerly. "Wrong." He finished with a sharp intake of breath; Erumrae sensed that she had hurt him and changed her tactics, strangely enough she did not wish to hurt him in the act of lovemaking as was her wont.

"Should we help Alumni retrieve the Talisman?" Sheera asked her longer hair once again playing over her chest as Alain squeezed and massaged her breasts; smiling he leaned in closer and focused exclusively on the left-hand side his tongue inching out to lap at her nipple, Sheera let loose a howl of pure desire and she grabbed his upper body forcing his face into her chest. "Yes, oh yesssss; taste me, eat me, suck me." She begged and ordered at the same time.

"Yes." Alain spoke up in between lickings. "The Kender is the Key, he will prevent the Talisman from being used by Alumni." He replied biting Sheera and causing her to gasp in strong pleasure. "His presence is unprecedented his flappable innocence and fearlessness shall destroy the plans of Unicron and save your world from his coming." He elaborated switching to the right-hand breast and attacking it recklessly with his mouth, teeth and tongue.

"Then accompany him we shall." Erumrae spoke up pulling his shaft from her mouth and smiling semi-innocently up at her new favored toy; no not a toy, this one was even better then that he was totally willing and seemed to know things as evidenced by the very changed room they were now in. The bed was larger and there were articles most common to Drow lovemaking resting coiled up by the pillow; Erumrae grinned eagerly, and lapped up the wetness gathering around his tip marveling at its' taste. "You must promise one thing for our assistance to that monster; you must promise that each night we will find ourselves together here within, in your mind so that we may embrace each others' bodies, I can no more resist then my dear cousin apparently I am drawn to you and I understand not why, but I want this." She admitted unashamed by her desire; though it was clearly some enchantment or other ill-conceived plot of the pretenders, to reveal this second soul and ensnare the Drow within a web of desire, both sexual and physical. Alain smiled contentedly moving his hand down now to rub Sheera's clit with index and middle finger eliciting an even greater gasp of breath from her cousin.

"If you insist." He returned agreeing readily to the bargain a slightly twisted smirk briefly appearing across his lips; Tarantulas was evil, Alumni and Unicron were worse, but for a man who had never before made love to a woman sometimes making deals with the devil were unavoidable and despite his deeply ingrained nobleness sometimes Alain just wanted to let go and unleash the animal within. Becoming completely lost in the act of lovemaking he began to lap and lick at Sheera's cunt exploring a woman for the first time with his tongue; the three changed positions in the process lying vertically upon the bed, Erumrae resumed her machinations of his cock and Sheera began to tease her cousins own pussy with finger and tongue.

* * *

And back in the waking world Alumni sleeping peacefully in the barn seemingly oblivious to the actions of his other soul smiled in his state of rest, but not one of pleasure or indeed any joyous emotions; no this was a smile of cunning and cold logical planning. His Master's ploy to use the Other had worked; and it was foolish of Alain to believe that a mere Kender could thwart the plans of the great God Unicron, but alas Alumni and Tarantulas failed to grasp the complexities of Kender, and they also failed to realize that there was more then one God in the heavens interested in the Dark Matrix… Primus as always; was ever watchful for these dark Talismans and had already gifted the Kender with his own protection against the dread God Unicron, completely unawares of said God.

* * *

The High Priestess awoke with a start; something unsettling had come to her dreams, dressing in as much as she dared she raced down to the Altar. The Talisman was glowing an evil red glow; the High Priestess reached towards it and froze mid-motion as she sensed the heat emanating from within. For some reason she felt unclean, impure, tainted as though Lloth had broken favor with her; and then she heard a dark laughter resonating from the talisman, the laughter of one who was not Lloth.

"I am a heretic; I have been betrayed." She gasped falling to her knees and begging Lloths' forgiveness as she wept piteously; and on the surface that was Faerûn for the first time in four years, the sun rose again.

* * *

Velasca watched angrily as Alumni freed the Drow and allowed them to get dressed again; she didn't understand, if the Drow hadn't agreed to help them reach the Underdark why free them? Tasslehoff was pleased at this development he didn't think it was very polite to keep elves tied up while they were naked; Erumrae smiled as she brushed Alumni's hair while he put his armor back on incapable of keeping the thoughts of the Other from her mind and what had been done last night unseen by all save perhaps the Gods, Sheera was shaking her hair out and getting rid of the hay.

"Well; it's nice we're all friends now, but when will we get to the Underdark?" Tas wondered; Alumni shrugged uncertainly as he fixed his sword belt back onto his person.

"It will take two ten-days to reach the entrance I used, but if we cut across the Storm Horns it will sever five days from our trip." Sheera replied; Velasca crossed her arms infuriatedly, Tasslehoff grinned and pulled out his trusty map case.

"In that case we'd better travel lightly; leave the horses." Alumni ordered; Velasca nodded and cut the reins loose, Erumrae glanced outside then and screamed in surprise shielding her eyes from the glare of the hated orb, which gave life to all.

"The sun, our magic will be useless now." She exclaimed fearfully; Alumni nodded as if he'd known that the sun had returned.

"The hold on the Matrix is gone; Unicron's will has been broken and the land of Faerûn will return to its' natural order… At least until my Master arrives provided we fail of course." He revealed; Sheera and Erumrae eyed Alumni knowingly, memories of the dark God that was Unicron flooding their minds.

"Those of Cormyr will be after you now." Erumrae stated; Velasca gritted her teeth.

"So then how should we get unnoticed into the Underdark?" She demanded; Alumni glanced between the three women before eyeing Tas and his maps.

"What might you suggest noble Kender?" He wondered smiling; Tas got a pensive look seriously considering the question.

"We could use a teleport circle; I heard the mages here use them all the time, and I bet one of them could get us into the Underdark easily." The Kender suggested; Alumni chuckled and shook his head, the plan was a sound one, but none of them knew the proper magic for such a spell.

"Unfortunately I doubt either Drow know the spell for such a circle; or if they do it will prove ineffective now that the sun has returned." He stated; Tas lowered his head disappointedly, he'd tried to help. "Fortunately my Master has foreseen this difficulty in evading the enemies we have inadvertently made; now that the Drow are no longer tapping into the Matrix's power I can use it to draw us into the Underdark once we are sufficiently close enough for its' power to wash over me." He informed; the Drow eyed him in shock and Velasca glared daggers at him.

"How can you have any power let alone that kind of power?" The Fallen Goddess demanded; Alumni smirked his eyes once again glowing that odd yellow.

"I do not possess any such power my dear Velasca; Unicron is a God, even one trapped as he is inside the Matrix can still use his own abilities. For those truly attuned to the Matrix it has unbelievable potential; the problem that faces us at the moment, is that I am still too far away to use my connection effectively." He stated smugly; Tas scratched his topknot in confusion.

"But if you can teleport us to it why can't you just teleport it here?" He asked; Alumni sighed.

"It is not as accurate as magic teleportation; I have no way of knowing where we'll wind up, so by default if I attempted summoning it to me I could inadvertently send it to the bottom of the sea instead." He explained; Tas nodded with a little smile of understanding, Velasca's glare did not subside, but Sheera and Erumrae both smiled the euphoria from last night still clouding their thoughts.

"Let's get going before I try to kill you." Velasca snarled leveling her sword on Alumni; the human rolled his eyes and threw open the barn doors, Tas was quick to follow him as were the Drow. Velasca glowered after the four of them; how she'd ever let herself be trapped in such a matter she didn't know, but Alumni would pay dearly for this effrontery.

* * *

Five days passed as the quintet made their way from the land of Cormyr; occasional skirmishes with Purple Dragons resulted in numerous deaths, Tasslehoff didn't relish the killing, but when in the company of four villains it really was unavoidable. Tas really hoped this wouldn't mean he'd have to go to the Abyss instead of returning to Flints' tree; Velasca remained furious especially since the two Drow seemed almost infatuated with Alumni, they slept with him every night when not on guard duty.  
Sheera could barely stand the sun and had trouble traveling during the day; her cousin Erumrae had a little more experience with the sun and surface travel in general, she'd trained rigorously for an invasion of Faerûn, or at least as much as could be taken. Alumni seemed unconcerned for their guides who led them often through secret passageways below the ground away from the growing numbers of Cormyrian warriors and mages in search of them; all of whom failed to locate them because of Unicrons' growing influence, Alumni walked often with closed eyes reveling in the bask of his Master's presence.  
On the fifth night the company was forced to sleep in one of the secret passages; and as usual the Drow females were called to Alain's side within the mindscape of dreams and the sub-conscious, tonight was a particularly special one for all three of them.

* * *

"We are close to the range of Unicron's pull; one more day and we will be able to end this." Alain stated as Erumrae whipped Sheera's bound breasts; the games the three played had grown more and more fantastical in certain respects, some of them very personal for Alain, but most of them designed for the benefit of the Drow women. Though they normally would never supplicate to any male; human or otherwise, the longer they shared this odd dreamlike state the further away from their social ideals and tendencies they became.

"What will become of you once this is over?" Erumrae asked sounding almost forlorn; Alain shrugged.

"I have no idea, why do you ask?" He wondered; Erumrae smirked and flicked the whip again causing her cousin to mewl with both pain and pleasure into her mouth stuffing gag.

"You would make a fine mate; though we would need to hide you from the rest of our family, consensual sex between Drow and Human is limited to our slaves and I would not wish to share you with Sheera's mother or our numerous other family members." She revealed; Alain smirked and came up behind the Drow warrior kissing the nape of her neck, the thought was a tempting one, but it went against his own desires.

"I sense that I will not be able to stay here; I must return to my own home, and once free of my souls' influence I doubt you'd come to accept me as your equal." He said; Erumrae frowned ignoring her cousins' pleas for sexual release and turned to face the human.

"Typical Drow response would be to agree and disdain you, but no, I can not; there is something about you Alain human-born that calls to us both, Sheera and I have felt it." She returned gently speaking in a tone no Drow woman would ever take with a man; human or Drow.

"Perhaps then serving Lloth is not your true calling." He hypothesized; Erumrae smiled revealing her pristine white teeth and leaned up against the humans' chest, oddly he always appeared taller here then in reality. Sheera practically screamed for attention the sound coming off more as a desperate squeal of frustration; Alain smirked mischievously falling back into character. "Dear Sheera appears to want something very badly, shall we give it to her?" He asked; Erumrae smiled wickedly and raised the whip, she always enjoyed the more aggressive roles, Alain seemed incapable of such parts. In truth he didn't feel comfortable meting out pain; he was still a tender caring man and was simply incapable of harming those he loved, even if the love was a lie.

"Yes lets'." She agreed and let the whip sing out again as it connected with her cousins' soft obsidian flesh.

* * *

Vangerdahast was very angered at the so far failure of his ploy; the dragon could find neither hide nor hair of the false Spider Lord or his companions and the Purple Dragons continued to lose their search parties to the merciless slaughter caused by the freely wandering villains, by now they must have passed through Cormyrs' boarders; and yet they could not even divine their location with the simplest of locator spells. Something very powerful was blocking them; even Mystra was worried and the Goddess rarely worried about anything, of course it was hard to judge her moods since Elminster only ever spoke for her and he was a curious one to boot.

"Any luck?" Queen Filfaeril asked entering his presence unannounced.

"None." He replied. "I fear this Unicron is shielding him; he wants the Talisman to be found as evidenced by its' sudden betrayal of the Drow after these long four years of war." He observed; Filfaeril eyed him worriedly.

"And what fate fair Faerûn would befall then I wonder?" She mused; Vangerdahast frowned.

"The answer to that my Queen I can not even begin to guess." He returned somberly; returning to his spells he tried once again to divine the whereabouts of the Spider Lord, the Queen crossed her arms as if to stave off a sudden chill and turned to leave.

_

* * *

Tarantulas; long absent from these proceedings was beginning to grow restless, Alumni his counterpart soon to be reborn of Earth Nine Hundred Twenty-Nine should have succeeded by now, he was taking far too long. No doubt influenced by the soul of Alain and his desires for the Drow females; the Spider could accept no failure, he was under a lot of pressure from Unicron to retrieve the Matrix for Nemesis Prime. So Alumni better not screw this up or else; multiple reality counterpart or not he would be guaranteed a very long, slow agonizing death._

* * *

Alain's thoughts on the matter were off; Alumni reached the limits of Unicrons' pull much sooner then anticipated, as they crested a small hill the maturing Cybertronian spark cohabitating the young man's body caused it to laugh triumphantly and instantaneously the five travelers vanished from the surface and appeared on a street in Menzoberranzan. Unable to see Tasslehoff reached out and grabbed the nearest person, which happened to be Velasca; and in fact he grabbed something he shouldn't have.

"You little gnat; I shall kill you at last for that final indignity." She cried drawing her sword; without warning a bright glow erupted from the deep center of the ancient underground city causing many Drow to cry out in sudden pain at the brightness, which eliminated the duller illumination the Drow were accustomed to, Velasca froze startled by the sudden and near-blinding light.

"What is that?" Erumrae asked fearfully; the light almost looked to be a blinding subterranean sun emerging from one of the noble houses, her own to be exact, a bright angry red glow.

"The Matrix." Alumni exclaimed reverently and he broke into a dead run racing towards the prize; Erumrae and Sheera swiftly joined him, ignoring the Kender Velasca followed as well drawn by the promise of freedom from her accursed bondage to Alumni and once again access to her full power.

"Oh no; I have to stop Alumni, even though he's kind of a friend of mine because really that Ma-Trex is just all around evil, worse then Takhisis or Chaos." Tas rambled on to himself as he ran unevenly after the others; he was still seeing spots in his eyes, but he had to get there he just had to.

* * *

The High Priestess shrieked in abject terror as the talisman burst into light brightening the Underdark; shielding her eyes she discovered that somehow the premature ageing had reversed and maybe a little too well, she looked almost like her daughter now a permanent taint of her heretical blasphemy.

"At last the Herald has come." A deep baritone masculine voice broke out of the nether; the Talisman began to chuckle, High Priestess Imreenice of the House of Xorlarrin was terrified utterly at this strange occurrence.

"Indeed he has." A strange voice concurred; Imreenice spun to find a man coifed in the armor of a Spider Lord, the false warriors they had formed to conquer all of Faerûn for the great houses, men who served as their enforcers and women who kept the men in line. A sword was in his hand Drow blood dripping from the end; several of her guards lay dead in the hall, she shied away from this vision of unnatural evil, for as he entered the room the handsome man seemed to waver and the image of a Spider-like beast could be seen.

"Mother!" Her daughters' voice cried out as both Sheera and Erumrae burst into the room; Alumni ignored them and the strange physical changes seemingly coming over him, dropping his sword he reached out both hands for the Talisman.

"Lord Unicron I am here for you; the Avatar awaits as does Unicron Nine Hundred and Twenty-Nine, together you can slay Primus our hated foe." He proclaimed in a mad tone as his future life began to override that of his human hosts' past life and the body slowly became that of Tarantulas, though the Drow had never seen Tarantulas before. The human arms became thick mechanical arms ending not in hands, but pincer-like claws and eight shiny black legs hung off of his upper arms indicating his alternate form. His human visage melted away replaced with the head of a Cybertronian; as alien as anything on Faerûn, lacking a mouth he instead possessed a bestial looking set of mandibles a tiny slit torn horizontally down the middle of the lower face and his eyes lost anything remotely resembling a humans'. It became a long yellow visor that covered the entire top of the face glowing that same dull yellow as before; only it grew brighter the closer he approached the Matrix, his entire body melted away replaced with the robot mode of Tarantulas.  
Suddenly Velasca charged in glowering angrily at her current slave master surprised not in the least at his physical transformation; drawing her blade single-handed she hurled it at him, Alumni screamed in pain as his left calf was pierced and he collapsed fully human once more the transformation reversed by the sting of the cold steel. Velasca grinned savagely and charged him pleased that at last she had hurt her tormentor; biting back the pain and ignoring the flowing lifeblood of his veins he forced himself up onto one knee.  
"Kneel cow!" He cursed gritting his teeth through the pain as he forced himself to stand shoving the sword free of its' resting place within the sheath of flesh that had been his leg; Velasca collapsed mid-charge to her knees struggling with all her fiber to disobey the order, using the sword as a crutch he hobbled over to her blood pouring onto the floor in spades. "You Zeus forsaken bitch; I should slay you for this, but so much better to punish you another… More fitting one of your station." He hissed eyes narrowed to thin slits churning with rage and flaring a deep yellow as the transformation almost took hold of him again, but Tarantulas was too weak to emerge and thus remained flesh and blood. "Unicron, my Master; bind this wretch's soul to the Kender, make her obey every command he utters and follow him to the ends of Eternity!" He demanded glaring his wrath upon the Goddess kneeling at his feet; Unicron laughed wickedly from within the Matrix, truly a fitting punishment indeed for the pride-fully arrogant Goddess. Velasca's eyes widened in sheer primal rage as she felt something inside of her squeezing over her heart, and then she nearly collapsed from pain; Alumni smiled derangedly as he watched her throw up a thin stream of black liquid, the Spider-Drone having self-combusted within due to Unicrons' influence. Turning back to the task at hand he was shocked to discover the Kender standing next to the altar reaching up for the Matrix. "Get away from that!" He shouted angrily; Tasslehoff shook his head and managed to snatch the too large Matrix from the altar using one of the large holes in the side of the handles typically used by a Decepticon or Predacon, Alumni's eyes widened in utter amazement, by all rights he should be dead.

"This is worse then the Graygem of Gargath; I don't want to be stepped on again even if I can't die a second time, so I think I'll put this in my pouch and take it to Paladine, or Fizban." He proclaimed.

"Give me that!" Alumni snarled trying to rush the Kender forgetting his injury; Tas backpedaled and wound up tripping over the altars' closest foot, Alumni's eyes widened in terror as the Kender fell. Tas landed with a whoosh of air and the clatter of something falling out of his pouch; it was the funny looking box with the alien language, which broke open spilling an odd powder all over the Matrix.

"No!" Unicron screamed and Alumni trembled in abject fear and pain as he felt the true source of that powder, which glowed an eerily familiar blue as though having come from the Autobot Matrix; spinning he quickly caught Erumrae's eye the spark at last suppressed and the human soul once again in charge.

"Get out, now!" He shouted concernedly; the Drow could see Alain's gaze in those blue eyes the yellow glow gone for good, quickly she ran leading Sheera and Imreenice from their home.

"Destiny… How can such a being; destroy my, Destiny!" Unicron exclaimed; Tasslehoff felt his hands getting hot and he let go of the Matrix, and then the world seemed to turn on its' side and the entire house imploded.

* * *

"_Alumni!" Gabrielle cried as she and Xena found him lying prone next to Widowmaker; he groaned and sat up looking extremely confused, reaching to his leg he looked stunned._

"_Are you all right?" Xena asked genuinely concerned._

"_Uh; yeah, I think, what happened?" Alumni wondered allowing Gabrielle to help him up; Xena eyed him bemusedly._

"_We were kind of hoping you could tell us; when you didn't make it we got worried." She said; Alumni shook his head trying to figure out what had happened, for some reason he saw spiders and sexy ebony skinned women, real obsidian as black as black not African black, but he couldn't think of any names and had no idea what the unicorn had to do with it, or was that unicron?_

"_Uh oh not more amnesia." Gabrielle complained eyeing her friend with an exasperated look; Alumni smiled ignoring the unanswered questions in his mind and smiled sheepishly._

"_No nothing like that at all; Artemis, she ah… Distracted me that's all and then when I refused her; ahem, advances she must have put me to sleep because I just had the weirdest dream." He hastily lied; whatever those visions were they must have been just that, a dream of some kind because they were already beginning to fade and he could no longer see them clearly, so what if none of the Gods actually did it, no need to worry about something that wasn't an immediate threat._

"_Well… Come on lover boy." Xena teased pulling Gabrielle up onto Argo's back behind her. "A messenger from King Leus reached us a day ago; there's trouble and I'll need you to help keep Gabrielle occupied while I deal with it." She added with a grin; Alumni nodded and hopped up on Widowmakers' back._

"_Let's go girl." He clucked his tongue and the mare took off at a gallop following after Argo; whooping with joy he reveled as the wind blew through his hair, but a stray thought struck him as he watched Xena and Gabrielle ride up ahead, perhaps they could turn that brief dream of a threesome into reality… Shaking his head to clear it of the unwanted thought he blushed furiously and rubbed at his calf briefly; that dream had felt so real._

* * *

Erumrae sighed as she led Sheera and Imreenice from Menzoberranzan; she couldn't live there now, nor could any of the family thanks to their foolish attempt to rule with the powers of the False Talisman. The absence of Alain made the matter even worse; no mate would join with either survivor now and the war and Alumni had finished off the other members of her house thanks to that implosion, outcasts and heretics should any discover the truth the three Drow had nowhere to turn.

"Perhaps I could be of some assistance." A stranger spoke up from out of the darkness; an odd looking man in a funny battered hat stood clutching what might have been a simple walking stick, Imreenice eyed him warily.

"Who are you?" The former High Priestess of Lloth demanded; the old man smiled.

"Unimportant; I believe the Kender called me Fizban, that will do." He stated; Sheera eyed him curiously, for Drow both she and Erumrae felt strangely hollow inside as though all of their spite, hatred and evil nature had been washed away by Alain, Imreenice felt only shame; though she too was changed from this experience.

"How can you help?" Erumrae asked; Fizban smiled again a little twinkle in his eye.

"Come with me and you'll see; maybe you'll even get to see your friend Alain again." He replied merrily emphasizing the word friend; Imreenice had no idea what this man was going on about, but her daughter and niece seemed to perk up at the odd name.

"Could we really?" Sheera asked hopefully; Fizban chuckled and turned to lead the way out of the Underdark.

"It's possible; you'll never know unless you accompany me." He stated beckoning with his stick; sharing a look the two of them were quick to follow the strange old man, Imreenice watched them go and then hurriedly raced after them; something told her they owed her a lot of explaining.

* * *

"Wow; that was some great stuff, I wish I knew what was in that box before I used it. Maybe Raistlin will know; or Fizban, I know Flint's going to love hearing all my new stories, but first I'd better find out where I am now… Or I mean, where we are now; maybe I've got a map." Tasslehoff Burrfoot remarked to himself rummaging through his pouches yet again for his precious map case; Velasca bared her teeth, when she got her full Godhood back Alumni would pay for this, and what's worse the Kender was already dead as she now understood, she couldn't even kill him. "Oh… Rivendell; yep that's where we are alright, see those funny houses they look just like this picture here on my map of Middle-Earth, well maybe not exactly like the picture because it looks a little nicer here, not as rundown as the map seems to indicate." Tas trailed off as he caught the look on Velasca's face. "Sorry; maybe there's some friendly people around here we could meet, coming Velasca?" He asked starting down the path; though his question was perfectly innocent it was unfortunately phrased partially in the way of an order, the fallen Goddess ground her teeth and her body reluctantly started after the Kender. "Borovia; I don't remember that place, but I found these coins there I must have, there was that creepy castle too I think, the place I got lost at before meeting you and Alumni, remember Velasca? You know you really shouldn't get so angry, stick with me and I bet you'll get to be a really good hero just like Sturm and Caramon and Tika and everybody who was a hero of the lance… You know I went forward in time once to speak at Caramons' funeral; and we both went back to the time of the Cataclysm with Raistlin, and…"

_The End?_

**Epilogue**

The spark pulsated deep within the flesh and blood body; hidden behind the rib cage inside one of the lungs, it was an energy field of sorts and so did not encumber the breathing of the human Alumni, but seething it knew it would take some doing to usurp command of the flesh body once again and hopefully it could… Gain favor with someone, but who was it, it was trying to gain favor with after; some kind of failure? He could not recall exactly, but it was certain it was important; yes only a matter of time and it could come out again to play, then… Be afraid.

* * *

The harsh winds blew as they always did; the man, if he could be called that glowered at his surroundings, bleak desolate wastes as far as the eye could see, that was Despondos for you. Suddenly he sensed a great power; like none he'd felt before, something was falling out of the sky, a glowing red jewel of some kind encased in a strange metallic casing. It fell straight and true and crashed at his feet exactly; bending down he picked it up and smiled as instantly he felt an increase to his power, the answers to all his troubles had just fallen into his lap.

"Shadow Weaver; this is Hordak, prepare the troops." He ordered speaking telepathically. "We attack Etheria at once, and then; I must pay an old visit to a former ally of mine." He stated his eyes gleaming viciously; and in his hands the Dark Matrix laughed to itself the personality of Unicron suppressed so as not to attract the attention of his hated foe, maybe the Kender prevented its' desires to be found on Faerûn, but this time it would succeed and then… Primus and the Autobots better watch out; for the Dark Matrix would return to the Decepticons and usher in a new era of pain and suffering for all those enemies of the Chaos Bringer.

_To Be Continued…?_

**Well there you have it; the End of Twisted, tantalising you readers further with possible sequels, though I am undecided if I will return to the Plight of Velasca and her Kender Master. Chuckles Darkly... If you have any questions or concerns feel free to adress them to me in the form of a Review and now, I'm off to post another brilliant tale.**


	2. Chapter 2 Comprehensive Timeline

**Chrysalis Timeline**

**Earth 929 Year 1992 April 13TH;** Alain Desrochers dates Jennifer McMahon for the first time, Unicron secretly employs an agent of Cobra-La to leave the book detailing Shadow Magic in Jennifers' school locker setting events in motion to ensure the arrival of Earth Primes' Alain Desrochers in the year 2003. _Source: Unwritten Talia & Darkholme Issue Number 1._

**Earth 929 Year 1994 May 27TH; **Jerrica Benton, the Holograms, their Associates, The Misfits and their Associates are mistakenly removed from Earth 929 by Saturnyne the Omniversal Majestrix due to outside interference from Merlyn. Roma chooses to use them for their mission to Earth 1302 in place of the Earth 656 counterparts intended to be used thus granting the assembled cast knowledge of the Omniverse for their future friendships surrounding a young man they currently have no knowledge on.  
Roughly five months later possibly; Unicron ensures that Kang the Conqueror will mistakenly apprehend all those living in Starlight Mansion thus ensuring that the Starlight Girls will also be aware of the Omniverse, the reason for this is still uncertain, but Primus has speculated that the Dark God wished to manipulate Alain's future ties with the Starlight Girls to unspecific ends. _Source Flashback: Crisis on Earth 929 Final Chaos and Unwritten Prelude to Crisis: Kang & The Starlight Girls._

**Earth Prime Year 1995 September 6TH; **Reanne McMahon previous Chosen of God loses the full power of her bloodline and begins to pay great attention to her daughters' boyfriends seeking the next Chosen. _Source: Off-Screen Event Never Written._

**Earth 929 Year 1997 August 10TH; **Jennifer and Alain finally become Talia and Darkholme beginning the process of harvesting Chaos energies in small amounts so as not to be noticed by Sorcerer Supreme Doctor Strange, several classmates of the duo most notably Christine Delisle, Candace Berard, Pamela Noel and Nicole Desroches (No relation) disappear. _Source: Unwritten Talia & Darkholme Issue Number 2._

**Starlight Citadel Timeline Uncertain; **Roma at last discerns the presence of total Chaos brewing on Earth 929 and sends Spider-Girl of Earth 107 to ferret out the source of the growing Chaotic forces threatening to destabilize the Omniversal balance. _Source: Unwritten Talia & Darkholme Issue Number 2 and 3._

**Earth Prime Year 2000 June 20TH; **Alain Desrochers Graduates High School and is faced with a lonely future as he knows nothing of what is expected of him, Reanne begins to despair as the Demons collect more souls to break the Gates of Hell open wide. _Source: Off-Screen Event Never Written._

**Earth 929 Year 2002 July 4TH; **Spider-Girl is enslaved by Shadow King under orders of Darkholme, Wheeljack begins plans to build the Infinity Engine, unseen by all Unicron is pleased at the progress of his pawns. Talia briefly faces the Ghost Rider revealing her presence and her plans indirectly to Mephistopheles, Blade the Vampire Hunter encounters Darkholme during a raid on a nest, and a Pocket Dimension is accidentally destroyed resulting in the unleashing of the Shadow Warg from their long ago banishment, Talia begins to tame them as pets. _Source: Unwritten Talia & Darkholme Issue Number 4 and 5 and 6._

**Earth Prime Year 2003 September 13TH Give or Take; **Alain telephones Jennifer; God ensures the call will be disappointing; the Omniverse becomes common knowledge to Alain Albert-Joseph Desrochers. _Source: Xena Warrior Princess; Of Gods and Women, Part One._

**Starlight Citadel Timeline Uncertain; **Roma enlists the aid of Arachnia AKA Gwen Stacy from Earth 3062; the choice of heroes reflecting ties to Spider-Man is due to manipulations in the Starlight Citadels' systems by Merlyn, Roma's father. Reasons unknown. _Source: Unwritten Talia & Darkholme Issue 6 Epilogue._

**Earth Designation Unrevealed Timeline Unspecified; **Alain Desrochers encounters Xena forcibly, God causes amnesia to ensure her champion shall take his training seriously, Unicron begins actively observing events from afar as his manipulations begin to take hold of the human.  
Taking the name Alumni; Alain journeys with the Warrior Princess and the Battling Bard and begins learning the proper use of the sword, he begins to bulk up and tone his body eliminating the fat. _Source: Xena Warrior Princess; Of Gods and Women, Part One._

**Earth 929 Year 2003 January 3RD; **Arachnia is captured by Talia and Darkholme becoming a sexual plaything for the duo replacing the most likely deceased former missing classmates; Wheeljack perfects the Infinity Engine and begins testing, Time Travelers from a future date and time inadvertently arrive in undocumented encounter between the Fantastic Four and a team claiming to be Salvation, they are led by a woman of unspecified origins and trick Johnny Storm Alias The Human Torch into returning with them to the future. _Source: Unwritten Salvation Issue Numbers Unknown; The Human Torch Saga and Talia & Darkholme Issue Number 7._

**Abbreviation Xena's Earth Timeline Still Unspecified; **Ares and Hera take a vested interest in Alumni; Ares uses a special poison to make communication possible, due to fragmented memories Alumni continues to train uncertain of his origins, but needing the skills to survive Hera convinces Hercules that Alumni is a dangerous threat; other players also become involved as the Heroes are gathered to protect the young man and facilitate his training all engineered by Zeus of course. _Source: Xena Warrior Princess; Of Gods and Women, Part One._

**Coruscant 177 Roughly 15 000 Years before the Foundation of the First Galactic Republic; **Jedi Knight Sarill Contrelle journeying to the planet Mustafar as part of her Jedi Trials is reborn upon ascending to the rank of Jedi Master, an unknown female party giving the name Quinlee is responsible for her newfound immortality, the Force reveals all to Master Sarill. _Source: Unwritten Star Wars Tales of the Jedi Order Story._

**Earth 929 Year 2003 February 23RD; **Techrat is approached by Predacon warrior Waspinator in disguise; Darkholme begins capturing his villainous pawns in preparation of the big push, Mephistopheles appears to the current Ghost Rider warning of dire portent and enlists his services to claim the Eye of Agamotto, the attempt fails though it does force Stephen Strange off of Earth 929 for the remainder of the year leaving a doppelganger under the control of Mephistopheles in his place. _Source: Unwritten Crisis on Earth 929 Ghost Rider Prelude to Crisis and Unwritten Crisis on Earth 929 Chronicles of Waspinator the Twenty-First Century._

**Xena's Earth Timeline Still Unspecified; **Alumni spends time in Athens undergoing intense physical training; Autolycus gets him in trouble with a tribe of Centaurs, but Xena manages to get him out. Unicron is well pleased at the progress of Alumni; fully aware what is to come he begins preparations to start the human on his path to the second unseen Destiny linking Alain to Cybertron forevermore, Past, Present and Future. _Source: Unwritten Tales of Suspense Issue Number 0 Alumni & Autolycus Vs. The Centaurs._

**Coruscant 177 18 Years before Star Wars The Phantom Menace; **Master Contrelle emerges from the planet Mustafar and engages battle with a Sith Lord by the name of Darth Sidious on the planet of Naboo, her attempt to prevent the fall of the Jedi Order fails, she flees into hiding and awaits the time of the Clone Wars vanishing seemingly from existence on the planet Dagobah. _Source: Unwritten Tales of Suspense Issue Number 1 Jedi Vs. Sith._

**Xena's Earth Timeline Still Unspecified; **Alumni journeys with Xena and experiences numerous adventures alongside his two mentors; during the Hind incident Alumni and Velasca are both kidnapped by Tarantulas acting under orders from Unicron, Unicron implants the spark that will become Tarantulas 929 within the flesh body of Alumni, forcibly usurping the young mans' true destiny and sub-planting it with that of a more favorable and necessary fate. _Source: Xena Warrior Princess; Of Gods and Women, Part Two and Prologue to Twisted._

**Faerûn 09 Timeline Uncertain; **Alumni, Velasca and a misplaced Kender spirit by the name of Tasslehoff Burrfoot fail in their quest to lay claim to the Dark Matrix from Cybertron 118 from the hands of the Drow of Menzoberranzan. Alumni's altered personality is forgotten and he is returned to Xena's Earth dismissing his stray memories as a trick of the Gods; within the spark of Tarantulas 929 begins to plot recapturing the flesh form of Alumni to continue his service to a being he has forgotten, obviously Unicron. _Source: Twisted._

**Earth Prime Hell Dimension; **Lucifer begins to prepare the power to breach Hells' Gates and conquer humanity along with the Earth; Time on Earth is no longer in motion however Time in Hell continues to beat faster towards the fated release of all Demonkin, The Secretary chooses to leave these scenes of darkness unseen to those regarding the chronicled history of Alain Albert-Joseph Desrochers of Earth Prime. _Source: Off-Screen Event Never Written._

**Xena's Earth Timeline Still Unspecified; **Alumni travels with Xena further the Ambrosia stolen from Callisto still hidden; he encounters Diana the Pagan Goddess and faces a tribe of Uruk-Hai; led by Damocles, the origins of the Uruk are unknown, Alain becomes Justice for the first time. Suffering a mortal wound he ingests the Ambrosia; the cultivating Spark of Tarantulas 929 uses this chance to resume control of the body assuming Godhood and proclaiming himself God of Chaos, due to fragmented memories Alumni does not recall anything of his mission to Faerûn. Instead he proceeds to wipe out whole villages of innocent souls while Xena, Gabrielle, Iolaus, Hercules and Joxer meet Toley one of Gods special guides; believing Alain's soul to have fragmented into two separate souls due to his amnesia and the fact that Unicron has hidden his machinations thoroughly from the eyes of God and Primus Toley sends his friends into his astral plane to save Alumni/Alain from death.  
In the end Tarantulas 929 is forcibly rejected from Alain's body taking on briefly a corporeal flesh form that is swiftly terminated by Toley's mate; thus Alain is saved and begins to learn more about his First Destiny. _Source: Xena Warrior Princess; Of Gods and Women, Part Two and Xena Warrior Princess & Hercules The Legendary Journeys; God of Chaos._

**Earth 929 Timeframe Unclear; **Unicron reclaims the spark that was Alumni who still has no recollection of the events surrounding its' origins; in fact it still believes itself to be a mortal soul and possesses a human appearance. Agreeing to Unicrons' false assurances Alumni the Spark is reformatted completely and finally turned into the Cybertronian Life Form destined to be; Tarantulas 929, though Tarantulas's memories have been altered so that all vestiges of his past life as a human are erased he completely understands that he has Unique Origins from those of Cybertronian Descent. _Source: Xena Warrior Princess & Hercules The Legendary Journeys; God of Chaos Epilogue._

**Earth Alpha Quadrant 18 Stardate Possibly 49504.3; **Having completed his training on Xena's Earth Alain is sent to the 24TH century and Q; first he must understand the nuances of the technology and survive the harsh wilds of the Delta Quadrant aboard the Starship Voyager, friendships are forged with Megan and Jenny Delaney and Ensign Samantha Wildman. _Source: Star Trek Voyager; Learning Curve; A New Frontier._

**Earth 929 Year 2003 March 15TH; **Darkholme and Talia continue unseen manipulations; Wheeljack and Optimus Prime place the Infinity Engine under SHIELD protection in secret and use deception and subterfuge to prevent the Decepticons from initially discovering the engines' absence, Cobra forces resurrect Serpentor from his death-like stasis and events begin to interconnect due to the presence of the Chaos Bringer. The Power Infinity Gem becomes the property of Reed Richards for a brief time, with it he discovers the Autobots' Infinity Engine has ties to the Infinity Gems though neither seems logically possible considering the origins of the Gems and Engine. _Source: The Transformers Issue Number 85 To Harness Infinity and Crisis on Earth 929 Reed Richards; Prelude to War._

**Earth Alpha Quadrant 18 Stardate 50384.2; **Alain meets Q for the first time; he begins to find his place on Voyager, Q takes on a new identity as Hunis the Trickster and creates the belief in the Draconian race that Al is Sithicus the Destroyer. The Borg become aware of Al's presence on Voyager during the Species 8472 incident and begin preparations for assimilation. _Source: Star Trek Voyager; Learning Curve; A New Frontier and Possibly Star Trek Voyager; Assimilation; Enemy at the Gates._

**Coruscant 177 Approximately 13-15 Years After Events of A New Hope; **Sensing the arrival of Alain is imminent Master Contrelle leaves Mustafar and Discovers Callista on the planet Naboo where she battled Sidious all those long years ago, she begins to re-open the woman fully in the Force. _Source: Unwritten Tales of Suspense Issue 2 Tales of the Jedi._

**Earth Alpha Quadrant 18 Stardate Approximately 51268.4; **The Borg capture Alain and forcibly assimilate him, the process goes awry through unseen developments; some such as Alain himself believe that Q influenced the Assimilation process and as usual the Omnipotent One decides not to correct that assumption taking perverse pleasure in the blame. In truth; due to the fact that the Spider Drone Tarantulas forcibly inserted into Alain back during the whole Twisted affair the Nanoprobes themselves become conflicted as two separate and alien sets of programming intersect and combine on a sub-molecular level re-writing the young human as Unicron intended into a Technorganic Life Form of unique abilities though still possessing the characteristics of the Borg and not the Cybertronians.  
After escaping Alain and the Voyager crew must come to grips with what has happened to him; life becomes further complicated when the Draconians arrive forcing Al to act and tap once again into the powers of Justice reawakening his memories of said power.  
**Stardate 52081.2; **Q frees Omnibus, Callopias and Serenity from incarceration; his Padawan will soon encounter a real Demon and begin to put the pieces of the puzzle that is his life together. _Source: Star Trek Voyager; Assimilation; Enemy at the Gates._ **Author's Notes: So as not to confuse you I will pause here to explain further the entire Assimilation Process I have recently re-created and re-envisioned to further draw ties between Alain and Cybertron. As you have already read Alain as Alumni encountered the Tarantulas of a different reality in Twisted and in order for Alumni to control Velasca this Tarantulas placed a Spider Drone within both of them. At the end of said story Velasca puked up the Spider Drone in a liquid state as she was forcibly bound to the Kender Tasslehoff Burrfoot, but the fate of Alain's Spider Drone was never revealed… This got the Wheels in my head to turning; at one point I had decided that Q really had mucked around with the Assimilation creating the other powers and as you can see whenever we bring that up in the main body of work Q and even his son q constantly play up this fact though in truth Q being a well known master of lies never actually did anything except to awaken the latent Mutant Gene in Alain a dormant Gene that all Earth Prime residents possess unknowingly.  
****The other power, powers I should say; originate from the Assimilation of the Spider Drone; Alain's ability to manipulate and created hard light holograms for brief moments in time is a remnant of the Spider Drones' own onboard holographic communications system, the ability to harness Gravity and to a lesser though extremely finite extent the Magnetic Spectrum is a remnant of the Spider Drones' repulsor field generator, which allows certain advanced Spider Drones the ability to levitate and fly defying gravity as it were, as well as the Spider Drone's magnetic grapplers, which Tarantulas has used in the past and is my interpretation of the little claw-like appendages sometimes seen in the Beast Wars cartoon, I mean they can pick up the pieces of Tarantulas when he gets' blown to smithereens, but some of those pieces looked a little awkward and even impossible to grasp, so I figured the claws must have added magnetic grapplers to facilitate picking up awkward, larger or even smaller pieces. This also explains why Alain's and Amy's Nanoprobes resemble eight-legged arachnids and possess a sort of semi-consciousness of their own at times; since the Spider Drones are Tarantulas' version of Smart Tools or AI units, which assist him in his laboratory experiments and the like it would make sense that at times they would assume control of certain bodily functions for unspecified purposes caused perhaps by mutated or aberrant behavioral programming as a result of the assimilation. The reason why I explain this all to you here dear reader is to facilitate the explanation and also I have no intention of revealing this truth to the characters in the story in any way shape or form; it's the Author's decision after all, so my original intentions now have an underlining perhaps sinister origin concerning the abilities of Technorganic Borg and also ties Alain to Cybertron just that little bit more… Now back to the matter at hand.**

**Earth 929 Year 2003 May 27TH; **Darkholme celebrates his twenty-first birthday and enjoys the fruits of his labors, namely Jennifer and Gwen; Cobra sets in motion project B.A.T Upgrade and sets their sights on acquiring the SHIELD Helicarrier. On Cybertron the war escalates as both Autobot and Decepticon begin deep space exploration for both Energon sources to replenish depleted supplies and lost colonies hoping to bolster their ranks with Cybertronians who had grown tired with the war and left, but are now desperately needed. Ultra Magnus makes contact with the Junkions of planet Junk and discovers faint traces of Cybertronian signatures from distant planet Nebulos; the Silver Surfer returns to being Galactus' Herald when Nova (**Frankie Raye**) is incarcerated on the Shi'ar home world for aiding Thanos in slaughtering eighty billion Kree survivors.  
Unicron begins preparations for the creation of Cyclonus and Scourge; it is also theorized that at this time the Universe Conflict of Cybertron 1300 was first conceived and possibly executed. Johnny Storm; missing for Five months in the Future, or a possible Future Timeline is at last returned by a mysterious young teenager with feline inspired characteristics, he says nothing of what he saw or did or even why he was gone so long. _Source: Unwritten Crisis on Earth 929 Cobra; Prelude to Crisis and The Transformers Issue Number 89-90 Plight of the Junkions and The Silver Surfer Issues Numbered Undecided; Heralds of Galactus and Crisis on Earth 929 Johnny Storm; Prelude to Crisis._

**Earth Alpha Quadrant 18 Stardate 52143.6; **Alain discovers both Serenity and Callopias roughly around this time, Serenity the Goddess attempts to seduce him, Callopias the Demon grows eager to kill him and events rapidly spiral out of control including an incident on the Holodeck until roughly Stardate 53049.2 when Al slays Callopias in combat and begins a torrid affair with Serenity. _Source: Star Trek Voyager; Forbidden Fruit._

**Earth 929 Year 2003 June 10TH; **Chaos has clouded Earth 929 from Roma's sight almost completely; aware she requires a new champion to prevent its' destruction she begins scouring the Omniverse for the perfect hero, preferably a Counterpart to Alain Desrochers 929. Meanwhile Talia at last is fully eclipsed by Unicrons' influence as he takes a personal hand in the events he is manipulating and Megatron finally deduces that Prime has hidden the Infinity Engine amongst the humans of SHIELD. In the small kingdom of Wakanda home to Africa's premier super hero the Black Panther Waspinator, the Predacon from a future time joins forces with T-Challa, Ghost Rider and a repentant Juggernaut to prevent T-Challa's enemies from unearthing remains of the Maximal Transwarp Exploration Craft Axalon and using them against the African heroes kingdom; time seems almost to stand still as though awaiting the coming of Alain Prime. _Source: Unwritten The Transformers Issues Numbered 92-94 (Possibly) Infinity is a Long Time Coming and Chronicles of Waspinator; Waspinator & The Secret Defenders._

**Earth Alpha Quadrant 18 Stardate Unknown; **After several months possibly a year of recuperation following the battle with Callopias, Alain Desrochers meets Amy and winds up adopting her via assimilation to save her life; Amy Chelerise Desrochers changes Al's entire outlook on life. Revealing his secretly crafted Holo-Cons; sentient holographic Decepticons, Al and Voyager repel attacks by the Borg and experience a great many adventures.

**Stardate Approximately 54274.7; **Al is visited by Warren Meers of Earth Hellmouth 400 reminding him that the events of Shattered is rapidly approaching; Al takes Amy to Eternia and is in turn adopted by her family, it is believed by Historians of Al and those around him that Serenity was impregnated close to this Stardate as well. Once returned to Voyager events continue on until fated Stardate 549703.4 when Admiral Janeway of one possible future arrives and leads her younger self into the destined event resulting in Voyager at last coming home to the Alpha Quadrant. Transporting over to the Enterprise Alain gets' his house in order and faces Omnibus at last; the Demon Overlord almost kills him, but he succeeds in destroying the Demons' physical form. _Source: Star Trek Voyager; War Against the Collective and Star Trek The Next Generation; Home and Heartache._

**Starlight Citadel Time Unspecified; **Roma recruits Alain to aid in ending the Crisis on Earth 929; none of the players are ever told how long this Chaotic anomaly has been growing, Al devastated at being torn away from Amy agrees only after Roma promises to reunite them. _Source: Crisis on Earth 929; Of Spiders and Mutants._

**Omniversal Passageway Unknown Moment in Time; **Unicron prevents Omnibus' spiritual essence from following Al to enact revenge, the non-corporeal Demon Overlord begins his search for a realm capable of restoring his physical form and seems to be almost forgotten by the players involved. _Source: Star Trek The Next Generation; Home and Heartache Epilogue._

**Earth 929 Year 2003 June 23RD possibly July 5TH; **Al arrives on Earth 929 in Central Park Early Morning; he encounters Spider-Man in brief after tangling with Electro, and then is inadvertently assaulted by Professor Charles Xavier founder of the X-Men mistaken for Magneto. Under the assumed name Allan Pendragon Rutherford our intrepid hero begins his mission with the X-Men; a guest in their mansion, he is targeted by the Brotherhood under Darkholmes' control, rescues Spider-Girl by killing Shadow King, meets with Spider-Man again to help Spider-Girl, briefly encounters Lawyer Matt Murdoch and is stopped by the Brotherhood a second time along with Curt Connors AKA The Lizard before he can meet Doctor Strange. All on Earth 929 remain unaware that the current Doctor Strange is a facsimile and the real Stephen Strange is currently trapped in the Dark Dimension battling minions of Dormammu. _Source: Crisis on Earth 929 Of Spiders' and Mutants and Unwritten Crisis on Earth 929 Doctor Strange Title Undecided._

**Coruscant 177 25-30 Years After A New Hope; **Master Contrelle and Callista rescue Lusa from a Vornskyr attack as the Yuuzhan Vong invasion grows into a truly epic development, Chewbacca and Anakin Solo lose their lives during the mounting war. _Source: Star Wars The New Jedi Order series of Novels/E-Novels and Tales of Suspense Issue Number 3 Vornskyr Attack._

**Earth 929 Year 2003 Exact Date Undetermined; **Alain is targeted by the Red Skull and an army of B.A.Ts' stolen from Cobra under the influence of Darkholme; the X-Men, Avengers and others put a stop to the attack on Manhattan and Westchester, Al kills the Red Skull be beheading him with his Lightsaber. Invited to an evening affair by Tony Stark Al and Rogue begin to slowly discover their mutual attraction for one another is more then just hormones, Wilson Fisk, Norman Osborn and Peter Parker are notable characters of Earth 929 also present at the unveiling.  
Venom and Carnage both attack due to Darkholme once again influencing events; Al, Spider-Man and Iron-Man fend them off, days later a team of X-Men, Spider-Man and Spider-Girl face them on the Brooklyn Bridge. Venom flees after Cletus Kasady is killed and the Carnage symbiote captured, Cobra owes Al a debt due to events surrounding Red Skull; Al enlists their aid at this point in time in finding answers to this entire mess.  
Eric Raymond sells out Gabor Oil to the Decepticons as Misfits' Music closes due to Bankruptcy; Al leaves New York and winds up in Los Angeles at Starlight Mansion, Jerrica and the others take him in, during his stay he meets Ricochet, Vixen and Synergy three Maximals from the Axalon as it turns out. Kills Spectro, Spyglass and Viewfinder with help from Cyclops and Jean, begins actively interacting with the Autobots, thwarts a kidnapping attempt, brokers deals with Cobra, the Autobots and Q, visits with Amy, helps young Nancy Cates deal with her mutation and takes the next step in his relationship with Rogue.  
Following major events surrounding Cobra, GIJoe the Transformers and their God Primus the Crisis of Earth 929 begins to reach the boiling point; Darkholme is ousted after pitting the Brotherhood against the Sinister Six; meanwhile Unicron and Tarantulas take the souls of the humans Cletus Kasady, Serpentor and the Red Skull AKA Johann Schmidt and once purging all traces of their past lives has been accomplished, Unicron uses said souls all of whom were directly or indirectly killed in their mortal life by Al to reformat and create the sparks of the Predacons Cicadacon, Seaclamp and Ramhorn; destined to become the Tripredacus Council and a future thorn in Rutherfords' side. _Source: Crisis on Earth 929: Avengers' Assemble and Crisis on Earth 929: Rampage in NYC and Crisis on Earth 929: Sea of Turmoil and Crisis on Earth 929: Terror Approaches and Crisis on Earth 929: More Than Meets the Eye._

**Earth X-1007 Circa 1942; **Warren Meers; having been forgotten by all journeys to this point in time of Earth X-1007 after engineering the deaths of numerous heroes including Superman and Batman, his goal is to enslave an army of heroines to conquer the Omniverse, but in truth Q is manipulating him to create a future team of Super Villains to face off against Alain and a future team of Super Heroes the young man will lead in service of Roma called Salvation, Warren's first target for slave training is Wonder Woman at a time when she is young and inexperienced… Harbinger; a new Demonic threat is also born due to Warren's incompetence and the beginnings of a truly dangerous team of adversaries is set in motion. _Source: Untitled Primarily Adult Story featuring Wonder Woman and Warren AKA Zeus._

**Earth 929 Year 2003 Month of August leading possibly into September; **Alain faces a plethora of events and villains as the Final Chaos draws nigh, The Sinister Six, Cobra, Darkholme, the Decepticons, the Green Goblin and others become embroiled in the massive up-surgence of mounting Chaos until at last, after killing his Earth 929 counterpart and facing down a Decepticon threat of spectacular origins Al engages in battle with Talia… Many casualties occur, but in the end Chaos is averted and the Infinity Engine destroyed; forced to leave Rogue and Amy behind Al moves on to conclude his training and hopefully return to Earth Prime at last.  
Other events entangled within this time include a brief encounter between Spider-Man, Spider-Girl and the Green Goblin, a battle with the Decepticons involving the Dinobots, and the mystical confrontation between Doctor Strange, Ghost Rider, Dormammu, Mephistopheles and the Doctor Strange Doppelganger all within the Dark Dimension. The Fantastic Four are also believed to have been taken out of the game due to a development in the Negative Zone, but remains unconfirmed. _Source: Crisis on Earth 929: Final Chaos and Unwritten Crisis on Earth 929: Spider-Girl Laugh of the Goblin and Unwritten Crisis on Earth 929: Doctor Strange Untitled Tale and Unwritten Crisis on Earth 929: Coda._

**Coruscant 177 25-30 Years After A New Hope; **Al arrives on Mon Cal and briefly interacts with the Solos' and Skywalkers' before Master Contrelle, Callista and Lusa arrive to take him to Mustafar; whereupon he completes his training, masters Justice and… _Source: Star Wars The New Jedi Order: Perspective and Star Wars The New Jedi Order: Potential._

**Earth Prime Year 2003 September 13TH; **Alain Albert-Joseph Desrochers returns home and begins remodeling his bedroom; Master Contrelle has accompanied him and the Force is no longer a part of her as she begins a new life on Earth Prime, in Hell Lucifer feels his presence, Jen and Christine talk briefly on the phone and Reanne prays for divine intervention. Meanwhile The Secretary has a special meeting with two individuals; Kal-El of a different Earth-Prime and Dawn Summers of Earth Hellmouth 75, the purpose of this meeting with Dawn Summers is never revealed. Other parties also briefly show interest in young Alain of Earth-Prime among them The Doctor, Daniel Jackson of SG-1 and Mxyzptlx. _Source: Star Wars The New Jedi Order: Potential and Interlude._

**Earth Hellmouth 36 Timeframe Uncertain; **Omnibus's spiritual essence escapes the Omniverse passageways and begins to amass mystical energy to return; Alain is sent to aid the Slayer in stopping Omnibus once and for all, events must happen quickly for Earth Prime is soon to be in dire need of Alain its' Chosen Champion. _Source: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Meets Sithicus._

**Earth Prime Year 2003 September 14TH; **Jennifer converses with Christine her best friend because of the phone call to Alain; q bears witness to this moment and amuses himself with the thought of the two coming together at last. _Source: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Meets Sithicus Interlude._

**Earth X-1007 Circa 2005;** Warren targets his next victims Kara Zor-El Alias Supergirl and Kara Zor-L Alias Power Girl to continue enslaving his army. _Source: Unwritten/Untitled Primary Adult Oriented Story Featuring Warren._

**Earth Hellmouth 36 Timeline Uncertain; **With Omnibus now destroyed completely and no longer a threat; Alain is approached by Whistler in order to assist the Powers that Be in restoring the Balance destroyed by Omnibus' unwitting presence on this version of Buffy's world. In order to accomplish this task; Alain must resurrect Tara McClay using Federation technology and drugs proven to work on others in the past and also recruit the long absent Scooby Oz the Reluctant Werewolf as it were to aid him in the city of Tokyo, Japan. It is revealed by the Sensei of the Light Dojo that ancient spirits once walked the Earth long ago; these spirits not destined to return until after the Slayer managed to defeat the First Evil and seal Sunnydale's Hellmouth manage to escape thanks to Omnibus and set into motion the rise once again of the Elementals.  
Al must convince a young Chinese girl by the name of Mei Lin that she is the Chosen One; destined to lead a team of four young women against the forces of the Spirits themselves, with the aid of Oz and Tara he must find a way to rewrite what Fate truly has in store for all. _Source: Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Dark Alliances and Partially Buffy the Vampire Slayer Inherent Evil._

**Earth 929 Year 2004 April 28TH; **Amy Chelerise Rutherford holds a training session with Professor Charles Xavier in order to expand her telepathic skills. _Source: Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Dark Alliances Interlude._

**Limbo Timeline Uncertain: Possible Future Events Revealed; **The Dark God Unicron holds a brief conference with Mega Zarak discussing events not yet part of the official Timeline; Mega Zarak informs his Master that Nemesis Prime has managed to procure the Dark Matrix on Eternia thanks to the unwitting assistance of young Alain Desrochers. Unicron leaves to harness the powers of Chaos being unleashed during the Autobot/Decepticon Conflict on Cybertron 5089 in order to restore his Planetary Body while trapped in a smaller form; The Universe Conflict is mentioned in brief, the reasons for this upset in the Timeline are uncertain, but information regarding the events surrounding Alain on Eternia and dealing with Nemesis Prime are most definitely intended to be a Future event as of yet Unchronicled by The Secretary. It is possible Uatu the Watcher parted the veils of Time and Space in order to gain further understanding on the Chaos Bringers interest in the Young Man from Earth Prime. _Source: Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Dark Alliances Interlude._

**More as Follows I trust this has helped straighten out every aspect of the Chrysalis story featuring Alain Desrochers; Anything that is Unwritten will take some time for me to get around to if I write them myself I may enlist the aid of fellow Fanfic Authors who know characters like Ghost Rider, The Silver Surer and all that way better then me.**


End file.
